alter ego vs pal

alter ego

noun
  • A very close and intimate friend. 

  • Somebody's alternate personality or persona; another self. 

  • A corporation used by a person to conduct personal business in an attempt to shield himself or herself from personal liability, and which a court may penetrate by "piercing the corporate veil" to impose liability on the person when they commit fraud or injustice. 

pal

noun
  • A friend, buddy, mate, cobber; someone to hang around with. 

  • An informal term of address, often used ironically in a hostile way. 

verb
  • Be friends with, hang around with. 

How often have the words alter ego and pal occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )