Theseus
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I must/I'll love you and leave you. (familiar)/to hang around with someone only for so long that you have time to say hello and settle for some basic conversation.This idiom, as with so many others, doesn't mean what it actually says! It simply means "I'm going to say goodbye now".
Something that you say when you say goodbye to someone that you are leaving:-
--Well, I'm sure you've got work to be doing so I'll love you and leave you.
--Alright, I'm going to have to love you and leave you or else I'll be late for the meeting this afternoon.
There is an Irish variation, 'I'm going to let you go now' implying that the person with whom you are talking must be fed up with your company and just waiting to get away, while you would prefer them to stay. Very much a social fiction in many cases.
It can be used in a gentle way to break up with someone when s/he's trying to get rid of you, meaning 'it's time to look for someone else'. This is uncommon.
Something that you say when you say goodbye to someone that you are leaving:-
--Well, I'm sure you've got work to be doing so I'll love you and leave you.
--Alright, I'm going to have to love you and leave you or else I'll be late for the meeting this afternoon.
There is an Irish variation, 'I'm going to let you go now' implying that the person with whom you are talking must be fed up with your company and just waiting to get away, while you would prefer them to stay. Very much a social fiction in many cases.
It can be used in a gentle way to break up with someone when s/he's trying to get rid of you, meaning 'it's time to look for someone else'. This is uncommon.
