diff -r 2228d503a1f0 -r 40e0392ef844 whois/whois.py
--- a/whois/whois.py	Wed Aug 03 12:23:19 2016 +0000
+++ b/whois/whois.py	Wed Aug 03 12:36:03 2016 +0000
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@
                 if not d:
                     break
             s.close()
-        except socket.error:
+        except socket.error as socketerror:
             print('Socket Error:', socketerror)
             return response