Why this word is great
RATAPLAN — [Noun] A continuous, even drumming or rapping sound, such as that produced by the hooves of a galloping horse or machine-gun fire. From the French ran tan plan, an onomatopoeic mimicry of percussive rhythm. Unlike "rat-a-tat" (which snaps with staccato precision) or "reverberation" (which lingers and decays), rataplan is the metronomic pulse of unbroken repetition. It is the thunder of cavalry advancing across hard-packed earth, the mechanical chatter of a Gatling gun stitching the air, or the relentless patter of rain on a tin roof long into the night—a rhythm so insistent it becomes the backdrop against which all other silences are measured.