Meaning
An exclamation used on meeting someone you haven't seen in a while — roughly 'long time, no see' — but it also works as a warm standalone greeting expressing that the reunion is long overdue and welcome. Often stretched into 'lang time mi nuh see yuh', it is the affectionate hail of old friends coming together again after a stretch apart, glad and a little reproachful at the length of the gap. It belongs to the warm, expressive Jamaican vocabulary of greeting, marking the pleasure and the overdue-ness of a reunion in a couple of fond words.
Examples
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Lang time! Weh yuh deh all now?
Long time! Where have you been all this while?
'Weh yuh deh' means 'where are you' with no copula before the locative.
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Lang time mi nuh see yuh face, mi bredda.
It's been a long time since I've seen your face, my brother.
'Nuh' here is the negator; the full form is affectionate.
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A lang time now mi a wait pon yuh call.
It's been a long time now that I've been waiting for your call.
Here 'a' is the continuous marker on 'wait'; different, more literal use of the phrase.
Origin
From English 'long time', abbreviated from the pidgin construction 'long time no see' that spread through global maritime and trade contact.
How it’s used
Warm and informal, used between people who already know each other. As a greeting it implies genuine gladness; using it with a stranger makes no sense.