Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his liquor drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death. Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous page 30.

When the authors use the term "most of us," they mean that it is very likely that we suffer from the same lack of willingness that they did. To help us diagnose our own alcoholism, they define it as being bodily and mentally different from our fellows. Though this is perhaps an unpleasant admission, we have to agree that in the light of our past experience this is true. "Therefore" means we accept what has come before. Our unwillingness to admit our alcoholism leads us to try countless times to control our drinking. We become obsessed with the idea that this time our drinking will not get out of control, that we will enjoy our drinking as we did early in our drinking careers. Usually, if we control our drinking we do not enjoy it and if we drink enough to enjoy it, we lose control. The illusion that we have power over alcohol and that we can control it remains with us long after it is evident to everyone around us that we can not. The Annotated AA Handbook Page 63

We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovered control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals---usually brief---were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better. Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

This is a definition of alcoholism with which we may be able to identify. We can look at our drinking history and see if at some point we lost the ability to control our drinking. This is a sign that we may be a real alcoholic.
Alcoholism is diagnosable. In AA we determine for ourselves if we are alcoholic. Alcoholism is primary---it is the cause of our problems not the result of them. Alcoholism is progressive---we gradually get worse. Alcoholism is chronic---we usually have this illness for a long time before we try to do anything about it. Alcoholism is fatal---if not arrested it will inevitably lead to our deaths. Alcoholism is treatable---the AA program has over 60 years of success. The Annotated AA Handbook Page 63

We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones. Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will make alcoholics of our kind like other men. We have tried every imaginable remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery, followed always by still worse relapse. Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it evidently hasn't done so yet.
Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By ever form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore non-alcoholic. If anyone, who is showing the inability to control his drinking can do the right-about-face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him. Heaven knows, we have tried hard enough and long enough to drink like other people!
Here are some of the methods we have tried: drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy, drinking only natural wines, agreeing to resign if ever drunk on the job, taking a trip, not taking a trip, swearing off forever (with and without a solemn oath), taking more physical exercise, reading inspirational books, going to health farms and sanitariums, accepting voluntary commitment to asylums--we could increase the list ad infinitum
We do not like to brand any individual as an alcoholic but you can quickly diagnose yourself. Step over to the nearest barroom and try some controlled drinking. Try to drink and stop abruptly. Try it more than once. It will not take long for you to decide, if you are honest with yourself about it. It may be worth a bad case of jitters if you get a full knowledge of your condition.
Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

How many of these methods of controlling our drinking have we tried? How many of our own methods have we tried? How die they work? For how long did they work? People who are not alcoholic do not devise methods to control their drinking. People who are not alcoholic can always control the amount they drink. This is a good test to determine if we are alcoholic.
This is one way to find out if we are alcoholic. If we are not alcoholic then we should be able to control our drinking or quit altogether. If our experiment at controlled drinking fails it should smash the delusion that we have some power over alcohol. The Annotated AA Handbook Page 63

To be gravely affected one does not necessarily have to drink a long time, nor take the quantities some of us have. This is particularly true of women. Potential feminine alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years. Certain drinkers, who would be greatly insulted if called alcoholics, are astonished at their inability to stop. We, who are familiar with the symptoms, see large numbers of potential alcoholics among young people everywhere. But try and get them to see it! Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

The earlier we are able to spot the symptoms of alcoholism in ourselves the sooner we can move toward recovery. We need not continue drinking ourselves to death in ignorance believing ourselves to weak or immoral. We can now see that we are physically and mentally affected by this illness, admit our powerlessness and seek a Power sufficient to solve our problem.
Nobody likes to be called an alcoholic because of the negative images associated with the term. the insult we feel at this label is due to our lack of humility. We have a lack of understanding of who and what we really are. If we are alcoholic, the sooner we are able to diagnose ourselves, by comparing our drinking to that of the authors, the sooner we can admit that we are powerless over alcohol and begin to recover. The Annotated AA Handbook Page 63.