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 @[email protected] 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”.
The abbreviation i.e. is short for “id est,” literally “that is.” English-language alternatives would be “that is to say” or “in other words.”
The abbreviation e.g. is short for “exempli gratia,” meaning “for example.”
The way I remember it is “i.e.” means “In other words” and “e.g.” means “for Example”.
I used to mix those two up all the time!
“In Effect” and “for EGsample” for me