play fast and loose vs take steps

play fast and loose

verb
  • To ignore proper behavior or social conventions, especially when it suits one's purpose. 

  • To act in a tricky, inconstant way, saying one thing and doing another. 

  • To be recklessly inaccurate, inappropriate, or otherwise ignoring guidelines and conventions. 

take steps

verb
  • To initiate a course of action, often against something that one disapproves of. 

How often have the words play fast and loose and take steps occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )