I've found that the semi-bad antics get trotted out in conversations - I sometimes feel they're trying to put me in my place for rejecting them (old drinking buddies) but maybe they're just trying to reach out in a alcoholic kind of way. Funny though - people who know the worse stuff tend to keep those things quiet (to my knowledge anyway).
Lighter drinkers are always shocked by the forever aspect of it and come out with the 'but surely you can have one at Christmas / your Birthday / my Birthday / Easter / New Year / a Wedding / when you go out for a meal / on holiday / at the weekend'. I've accepted that they really cannot EVER understand it - and lucky them for that. It's why I love the fact that I can come on here or go to an AA meeting and talk to people who are sober, but also understand.