hobby horse vs idée fixe

hobby horse

noun
  • A topic about which someone loves to talk at great length. 

  • A child's toy consisting of a (usually wooden or cloth) horse's head mounted on a stick. 

  • The Irish hobby, an extinct breed of horse. 

  • A puppet-like costume used in some traditional dances and festivals that gives its wearer the appearance of a man on horseback. 

  • An early bicycle with no pedals or brakes; a draisienne. 

idée fixe

noun
  • A recurring musical theme; a leitmotif. 

  • An idea dominating the mind and maintained despite evidence to the contrary; (loosely), an obsession. 

How often have the words hobby horse and idée fixe occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )