diff -r a3e48273dce3 Lib/smtplib.py
--- a/Lib/smtplib.py	Tue Oct 18 17:16:00 2011 +0200
+++ b/Lib/smtplib.py	Wed Oct 19 10:45:02 2011 +0200
@@ -276,12 +276,19 @@ class SMTP:
         """
         self.debuglevel = debuglevel
 
-    def _get_socket(self, port, host, timeout):
-        # This makes it simpler for SMTP_SSL to use the SMTP connect code
-        # and just alter the socket connection bit.
+    def _get_socket(self, host, port, timeout):
+        """ Connect to host:port and return the socket object.
+
+        This method simply invokes socket.create_connection, so you may wonder
+        why don't we just call that function instead. The reason why that is
+        not done is because SMTP_SSL subclasses SMTP and overrides _get_socket;
+        with this approach both classes use internally the same private method.
+
+        """
+
         if self.debuglevel > 0:
             print>>stderr, 'connect:', (host, port)
-        return socket.create_connection((port, host), timeout)
+        return socket.create_connection((host, port), timeout)
 
     def connect(self, host='localhost', port=0):
         """Connect to a host on a given port.