"Eez Social-eezm"

Once upon a time--about a quarter of a century ago, Holy Frak!--I had a friend who was going to school. (His wife was in my unit.)

He had a classmate we shall call "Stosh." Stosh was Polish, and had somehow managed to escape to freedom with his entire family. There were all kinds of rumors about Stosh's relationship with the US Government, but that's not the point of this anecdote.

Often, my friend would relate, Stosh would ask a question about "Why it is that...?" and when the answer involved bureaucratic rules, or politic favors, or back room deals, he would nod knowingly and say "Ahhh, eez social-eezm", with the emphasis on the second syllable, as we used to say when we corrected the pronounciation of "Detroit."

Well, usually. One day he asked my friend "Why it is Americans have fascination with guns and cars?" and my friend said "You've seen Western movies, right? The heroic loner? Even if he wasn't a loner, or even heroic, the American cowboy had his gun, and his horse, and no one was going to make him go anywhere he didn't want to go, or keep him from going anywhere that he wanted to. We don't ride horses so much anymore, but the car serves the same purpose. Guns and cars equals freedom"

Stosh nodded. "This is not social-eezm."