The AA Lexicon Needs Updating— Starting With The Word “Alcoholic”

I’m on a mission to cancel the word “alcoholic.” I’m not a proponent of cancel culture, but if there’s one outdated, misleading, and misinterpreted word that I’d like to see vanish — it’s alcoholic.

It’s the word most often used to describe problem drinkers, yet no one can tell you exactly what it means.

Not even Alcoholics Anonymous.

Here’s how the AA Big Book defines alcoholism:

While there is no formal ‘AA definition’ of alcoholism, most of us agree that, for us, it could be described as a physical compulsion, coupled with a mental obsession.

Huh??

In AA’s definition of alcoholism, they confess that there’s no definition for alcoholism.

I also highlighted the words most and could to show you just how ambiguous that explanation is.

In the rooms of AA, you will likely be told that “only you can determine if you’re an alcoholic.”

How can I determine this if I don’t even know what it means?

Also, if I have disease, a disorder of the mind and body, why would I be the only one qualified to diagnose myself?

Wouldn’t a doctor, psychiatrist, or drug counselor be better suited for the…