popular vs the thing

popular

noun
  • A member of the Populares 

  • A person who is popular, especially at a school. 

  • An inexpensive newspaper with wide circulation. 

adj
  • Liked by many people; generally pleasing, widely admired. 

  • Common among the general public; generally accepted. 

  • Pertaining to or deriving from the people or general public. 

  • Adapted to the means of the common people; cheap. 

  • Concerning the people; public. 

  • Aimed at ordinary people, as opposed to specialists etc.; intended for general consumption. 

the thing

noun
  • The desired thing: someone or something that is popularly favored. 

  • The needful thing: something suitable for the purpose. 

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