this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2026
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Today I Learned (TIL)
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Help us out: what do you think “First World,” “Second World,” and “Third World” actually mean? The terms referred to cold war political alignment: the U.S.-led bloc, the Soviet-led bloc, and countries aligned with neither. It was not a tidy ranking from rich and civilized to poor and backward.
Yes those were the original definitions but colloquial usage has shifted from the original meaning. Although these days the preferred terminology is developed/developing/under developed.
under developed is only preferred in academic circles, particularly economics. most other places refer to such places as "over-exploited"
Or "2/3rds world" (as in the majority of countries neither aligned with Soviet Communism nor US Capitalism and therefore not as exploited or industrialized/polluting)
I mean it in the colloquial sense based on how well taken care of the people are. No I am not writing a dissertation. This is a discussion on a message board where people may use hyperbole to make their opinion clear
:
Q. What do you call a third world country that takes care of its people as well as Scandinavia?
A. Overdue for a CIA coup
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