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13 Months Sober (2025)

86 points · 77 comments · btables

  1. gadders · · focus · HN ↗
    When did "sober" take over from "teetotal" for someone who will long-term abstain from alcohol?

    I'm sober right now but won't be tonight when I have a couple of glasses of wine in front of the TV.

    1. alwa · · focus · HN ↗
      I think of “teetotallers” as being vocal about their abstaining, some to the point of strident abolitionism. Whereas my “sober” friends seem to speak of that more as a personal condition than a zealous cause.

      I’ve gotten the sense from twelve-step types of friends that, for them, the “sober” sobriquet goes along with this idea that an alcoholic is never “cured”: that sobriety is always contingent, and that they’re always one drink away from sliding back to “a drunk” again.

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