phr. [ phonetic transcription of colloquial speech. ] Got you; I got you; as, I gotcha!. [ PJC ]

Phonetic transcriptions of rapid colloquial speech are sometimes used in place of the grammatically proper spelling in order to provide a flavor of the original spirit of a spoken dialogue. See also the related entries for gonna, gotta, wanna, and wannabe. [ colloq., phonetic spelling ] [ PJC ]

n. [ phonetic transcription of colloquial speech, from got you. ] A situation in which a mistake by one person which is pointed out by another person; see gotcha, phr.. [ colloq., phonetic spelling ] [ PJC ]

2. A situation in which an error or indiscretion by one person is deliberately caused by another person -- a mild form of entrapment with malicious or humorous intent; as, he was furious to be the victim of a gotcha [ PJC ]

Kathleen "Kit" Gingrich (Sept. 23), 77, mother of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich . . . became famous as the victim of a "gotcha" interview by CBS's Connie Chung; the TV personality coaxed ("whisper it to me, just between you and me") out of Mrs. Gingrich a nasty comment attributed to her son concerning then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton -- and then aired it. World on the Web [ Obituary notice: October 4, 2003 ]. [ PJC ]

3. A situation or attribute which tends to cause one to make an error; as, one of the main gotchas in learning English is the frequency of non-phonetic spellings. [ PJC ]