And while she gazed her heart went pitapat.

Even stingier are his explanations of why they make his heart go pitapat.

"Oh, then you are a hero," she blurted, overcompensating because her foolish heart was going pitapat.

Still calmly, though my heart was going pitapat, I pulled out Louis's dirk and began to whet it on the stone.

Pitapat came the foot, nearer and nearer, and at last a small head peeped, half afraid, through the half-open door.

PAMELA:[taking the letter]O, how my heart goes pitapat.

The choreography is ingenious, weaving together steps and gestures that clearly communicate even surprising meanings like "dab" and "whisper" - though "go pitapat" and "hang on the skirts of" slipped by unnoticed.

But at Transfer - a secondhand shop in SoHo that sells labels to make the hearts of the status-conscious go pitapat - a similar Dolce & Gabbana design was going for $1,000.

But if Mr. Rose understands the power of Romantic music to make moviegoers' hearts go pitapat (he directed the Beethoven biography "Immortal Beloved"), his "Anna Karenina" is curiously and disastrously passionless.