I said I didn't know if I was an alcoholic at the first meeting when I was asked to say something,  and find it strange that I've heard hardly anyone say that since.  It took me years to finally understand that an alcoholic is someone who can't guarantee their behaviour after having the first drink.

It seems to me that if something is really screwing up your life,  the only sensible thing to do is to quit.  If someone can do that on their own without AA and feel OK without it,  that's fine. I figure that probably means that their problem is alcohol and not alcoholism.  If they need AA's
help to stay sober,  that's fine too,  and means that they are alcoholic. But if they keep drinking because they don't know if they are alcoholics or not,  they are just friggen idiots.