My mother used to have one (1) 8 ounce glass of beer every day at 4 p.m. It was the time when the kids were out playing, the day's work was mostly done, and it wasn't yet time to start supper. It was also about all of the alcohol she drank -- oh, yeah, perhaps an ounce or two of wine on Christmas and, very rarely, a highball at a wedding reception. She was also known to take a hot toddy when she had a bad cold, or even make one -- a weak one! -- for one of her kids if they had a cold.

Anyway, some years ago my sister decided that the daily 8 ounces of beer made my mother an alcoholic. This permitted my sister (who has many problems of her own) to claim that she was the "survivor" of an alcoholic mother. My brothers and I, who have known (and one who has almost been) true alcoholics, were appalled.

To me it was like the diagnosis that my father-in-law was homicidal: he'd been a career Army officer and served in WW2, so he knew about weapons, and thus was homicidal (and no, I'm NOT making this up!). After the feathers fell silently to the floor, the person making that diagnosis had been reprimanded by the State's professional association and the family considers it funny.

Eight ounces of beer a day does not an alcoholic make, nor does serving in the Armed Forces make you homicidal.