babble vs lose the thread

babble

verb
  • To talk too much; to chatter; to prattle. 

  • To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat words or sounds in a childish way without understanding. 

  • To reveal; to give away (a secret). 

  • To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds 

  • To talk incoherently; to utter meaningless words. 

  • To make a continuous murmuring noise, like shallow water running over stones. 

noun
  • A sound like that of water gently flowing around obstructions. 

  • Idle talk; senseless prattle 

  • Inarticulate speech; constant or confused murmur. 

lose the thread

verb
  • To get distracted and lose track of something (one's train of thought, a conversation). 

How often have the words babble and lose the thread occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )