"and the word means different things in practically every place it's used" It was once used enthusiastically by the Great and the Good to describe Venezuela.

"and the word means different things in practically every place it's used" It was once used enthusiastically by the Great and the Good to describe Venezuela. Venezuelan leaders still use it freely to describe their policy. Recently though, the intelligentsia has become reluctant to attribute Venezuela as Socialist, leaving the matter conspicuously ambiguous with much discussion of oil prices mumble mumble. Thankfully our thought leaders have come to the rescue and solved this problem by declaring Venezuela a Dictatorship, so we no longer need to step around the precious S word. Whew.