The phrase "gat in one hair" is a colloquial expression used to describe a critical situation where everything is on the line. The word "gat" is an informal form of the verb "get," and it is spelled using the IPA phonetic transcription as /ɡæt/. The pronunciation of "gat" is similar to the word "cat" but with a hard "g" sound instead of a "c." The phrase originated in Dutch lore, where a hare escaping through a fence gap came face-to-face with a hunting dog, and its life hung on that one gap.