Socialism is simply the rejection of the right to personal capital accumulation, the right to the fruits of your labor. What else do people think it means? They've probably been misconditioned, or are poorly literate. Words do have many meanings, but only after folks start trying to change their original meaning. Think, American "democracy.". America does not have a democracy, it has a consensus structure. Yet American politicians sell the idea of "US democracy" like it's worth fighting to defend. Democracy is worse than consensus! But we changed the meaning of democracy anyway to support wars, stoke divides, etc.