Originally Posted by
Jimboagust 
How does one know the difference between being someone who drinks too much (a "problem-drinker") and being a full-blown alcoholic? Is it simply a subjective choice or is there an objective demarcation?
It's entirely subjective. I took a test as part of "Drunk Driver's School." It was a test that was supposed to tell you if you were an alcoholic, and it was totally subjective. It was one of those tests that tells you to answer truthfully, which is about as helpful as a test for lying that tells the suspected liar to answer without lying. An alert 5th grader could have figured out how to get any test result he wanted.
When you see the same guy staggering down the street everyday with a bottle of whisky in hand, it's reasonable to assume he's an alcoholic, but it's still just an assumption. The best one can do is know himself, and much of recovery has to do with coming to grips with this knowledge, and most of all, how you will use it.