My take on this is that to admit that I'm an "alcoholic" reminds me that simple honesty with myself and others kept me from really getting into recovery for many many years. When I was able to say that in a group of people something changed and I found myself on a long road upwards and the sun began to shine again. Maybe what you're feeling is the result of all the conditioning which society does about alcoholics, that they are "bad" or "funny" or that they are "losers", "weak", etc. etc. The list goes on and on. So if we have been conditioned to think of alcoholics this way then when we have to say that we are one of these we feel like it's a slap in the face.
So I can identify with how a person feels by saying in a group that he or she is an "alcoholic". I felt like that too. But it's usually only a group of other recovering alcoholics , it's usually anonymous and confidential and I really think it helps a person take an honest look at the situation, that it's an illness and you have to admit in a very serious way that you have it so you can do something about it.
Anyway, despite all the lingering misunderstandings about alcoholism in society, and the prejudice which many have against those who suffer from this illness, I think that you'll find that when a person is able to say, "Yes I'm an alcoholic but I haven't had a drink for a long long time", many, perhaps most folks will say, "Wow! You did that! Congratulations! My hat's off to you". Why do they do that? I think they do that because they know that you've won the hardest war of all, the war against yourself. You've come back from hell itself. It's tough at first but later on it's sort of a battle ribbon.
W.