Phil's right: it's complicated. The sentence 'wait a minute' is not to be taken literally. In other words, it has nothing to do with time, or waiting for one minute. The meaning is: 'I don't agree'; or 'I am not sure I agree'; or 'Let's not jump to conclusions'; or 'Let's reconsider'; or 'I/you/we are making an assumption/reaching the wrong conclusion." etc. It is an indication that the speaker wants to rethink or reconsider something, or wants the listener to rethink or reconsider something, or that the speaker disagrees with something and/or needs more time to consider the issue. It could also mean: 'Stop, there's something wrong here.'

How about: Please wait for me here for a minute. Or, shorter: Please wait here for a minute. Of course, a minute doesn't literally mean 1 minute. I'm assuming you're leaving the place for a bit and will come back. If you mean exactly 1 minute: Wait here for one minute. Let's wait for just one more minute. If he's still not here, we'll leave without him. It would be better if you can describe the situation. Hope this helps. :)

Okay so it's complicated - "wait a minute" in the UK does not mean wait for one minute; it means wait for a short time. If you want somebody to wait for one minute exactly, you should say something like "wait a minute, literally one minute." But as with anything in English, context is everything. For example "wait a minute" can also be used in the sense of "just give me a chance to think about that." This needs to be illustrated further Andy: You still owe me ten dollars. You never paid me back. Phil: Wait a minute, I bought you that drink yesterday, doesn't that mean anything? Andy: Oh yeah, sure

argh. Sorry. Can't delete this comment on mobile