[Techtalk] mysql skip_networking and wordpress

[Elwing]

I'm installing a new server to run my web stuff, and I want to  
connect to the mysql server through the local socket (skip_networking  
is uncommented in my.cnf), but I cannot for the life of me get  
wordpress to make a connection to the system.

The twist is that I'm on a VPS and CANNOT use localhost or 127.0.0.1  
as the DB_HOST (I'm not sure why, but it was in my welcome letter)
I really don't want mysql listening on a network interface (although  
it is a last ditch option)

according to the php manual, I should be able to set the host to / 
path/to/socket and make the connection, yet when I set DB_HOST to "/ 
path/to/socket", I get a connection error.

I've searched google for the last two hours, yet the best I can come  
up with is disabling skip_networking :(

Any links or ideas?

Thanks,
Elwing