Its not just a Britishism. Its identified in the master's thesis linked to in the article [1] as a form of "turning the table" which "seem[s] to place the onus

Its not just a Britishism. Its identified in the master's thesis linked to in the article [1] as a form of "turning the table" which "seem[s] to place the onus of ending the conversation on the conversational partner." (pg 63) [1] http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4055&context=etd_theses&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fscholar%3Fstart%3D0%26q%3D%2522conversational%2Bretreat%2522%26hl%3Den%26as_sdt%3D0%2C33#search=%22conversational%20retreat%22 http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=405...