I’ve seen .: used two times now, and I really wonder what is? The first time I saw it was in an extract from the Swedish dictionary SAOL in NE. They used it something like this so:

History.: since year x

More lately I saw it used in this comment by @nodsocket@lemmy.world like so:

What make bikes so expensive?

R.: The willing of people to buy them.

What is this? Were does it come from? Should I use it?

Edit: thanks for all the answers :). It turns out it was actually used for abbreviation in the dictionary, they wrote “hist.” instead of “historia”.

  • @GenderNeutralBroEnglish
    61•11 months ago

    FYI, “i.e.” comes from the Latin id est, meaning “that is”.

    “e.g.” means “for example”, from the Latin exempli gratia.

    The meaning is a little different, though the two are often interchanged. You should use “i.e.” to clarify a singular meaning (think “in other words…”) and use “e.g.” to give one of potentially many examples.

    See https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/ie-vs-eg-abbreviation-meaning-usage-difference for more examples and explanations.

    • wjrii
      10•11 months ago

      For English speakers, you can mentally substitute “idiom explained” and “example given” as a mnemonic to help remember the difference.

    • @PlexSheep@feddit.de
      3•11 months ago

      Good to know. I’m not a native English speaker. I was going for the equivalent of the German “z.B.” - “zum Beispiel”.