When you think about it, using this expression might be considered a form of rationalizing, as in "he is not that bad, he has his job, brings money" he is highly functioning, so what are you complaining about? I had this experience, and am now actually more shocked by the whole community surrounding my ex and me, the secrecy, the denial, "the codependency by proxy," as I call it. The people who think that being in a relationship is a good thing for a person like my ex, that a wifey would fix him, and put him back in his place. That he will man up once he marries.
But I so hate that expression. So misleading and unfair to anybody touched by an alcoholic and to the alcoholic himself/herself.