Originally Posted by
flutter 
Telling someone that I'm an alcoholic doesn't not necessarily say "I don't drink"..
Telling people I don't drink alcohol usually answers any questions about my drink preference just fine.
Exactly. At my former job there was a guy who mentioned he was an alcoholic...but that he had no intentions of quitting.
Maybe it's just me and my limited perspective, but it seems as though there are a lot of people outside of SR saying that they are alcoholics...perhaps as a joke or a catch phrase. I don't know...maybe 'alcoholic' doesn't have nearly the same impact on the general public like it does for us in this corner of the web.
Lots of good suggestions and experience here.