Can’t think of an expression in Swedish, but I know at least three people who are like that and I have always though that it would be fun to overhear a conversation between them.
In Indian culture, it’s routine and expected behaviour. Just like declining offers of food or drink at least twice before accepting.
I’ve heard it called an “Irish good bye”. I know its true in my mostly-Irish family. Once the departing guests reach the door the conversation really gets going. It drives me crazy.
I just want you to know, we’re all counting on you.
I know this isn’t the answer, but according to The Superior Person’s Book Of Words, this is where you should turn to your spouse or SO and say, “Isn’t it time we offer them a dimissory coffee?”
(Yes it is a word, even though the spell-checker doesn’t like it. It means something given at the point of a person’s departing.)
I don’t know whether it’s a regionalism; I checked RAE but they don’t have the reflexive version of the verb. In Spanish, alargar means to elongate or lengthen, both in a physical and temporal sense (the negotiations were taking forever: las negociaciones se alargaban); I use and have heard others use alargarse to mean “lengthen the goodbyes”: that woman always ‘lengthens herself’, that woman always takes forever to say goodbye, es que esa mujer siempre se alarga. Usually it’s pronounced with a long middle a, to show how loooooooong her goodbyes are.
Am I the only person who keeps reading the title as “repeatedly making love but not leaving”?
“Co-dependent” was already mentioned above…
-Joe
As others have remarked, Columbo is famous for this. Many writers refer to this habit of his as a “false exit”. I’m not a screenwriter or anthropologist, so I can’t say if this is a technical term.
I call it The Long Goodbye.
Sofastayers.
We call it the Minnesota goodbye. I loathe it. Now that I’m an adult with my own mode of transport, able to leave as I please, I’ve taken to getting up, gathering my stuff, and shouting “Goodbye!” as I walk out the door. It’s so refreshing!