nothing but vs simply

nothing but

adv
  • only 

simply

adv
  • Merely; solely. 

  • In a simple way or state; considered in or by itself; without addition; alone. 

  • Plainly; without art or subtlety 

  • Frankly. 

  • absolutely, positively. 

  • Foolishly; stupidly. 

How often have the words nothing but and simply occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )