146 Common Alcoholics Anonymous Acronyms & Slogans
Alcoholics Anonymous has numerous acronyms and slogans that you might hear someone mention or you might hear in a meeting. Depending on where you are in the world and which specific meeting you go to, you may find some of these AA acronyms and slogans more common than others.
We’ve put together a comprehensive list of AA acronyms and slogans below. If you feel we’ve missed any or want to request to add one, please contact us and let us know.
Here are the most common Alcoholics AnonymousThe original 12-step fellowship, formed in 1935, to help alcoholics, regain control over their lives. It remains the largest 12-step organization and has contributed to the sobriety of millions worldwide. Read more about Alcoholics Anonymous More acronyms. The list of common AA slogans is located below the acronyms.
Common Alcoholics Anonymous Acronyms
AA: Absolute AbstinenceThe act of not partaking in the substance or activity to which a member is addicted. The length of sobriety of addicts is determined following the period of abstinence. More | Adventurers Anonymous | Altered Attitudes | Altruistic action | Attitude Adjustment
ABC: AcceptanceAccepting an inability to cope with addiction alone, is a major part of the recovery process. The same process involves accepting our flaws, responsibility for our actions, and the need to surrender to a Higher Power. More, Belief, Change | Ashtrays, Broom, Coffee | Ashtrays, Broom, Chairs
ACTION: Any Change Toward Improving One’s Nature
ALCOHOLICS: A Life Centered On Helping Others Live In Complete SobrietyIn 12-step programs, an individual is sober when they are no longer partaking in the behavior or substance to which they are addicted and living a better life following the program. Both are necessary to achieve sobriety. More
ANONYMOUS: Actions Not Our Names Yield Maintenance Of Unity and ServiceAA and other 12-step fellowships do not normally have employees. Instead, members volunteer and take roles necessary for the operation of the different groups and the larger infrastructure of the fellowship. Common roles of service include secretary, treasurer, and chairing meetings. More
ASK: Ass-Saving Kit
BAR: Beware AlcoholAn organic compound used in many products, most notably intoxicating drinks. Alcohol addiction is known as alcoholism. The first 12-step program was devised to deal with that malady. More, Run | Beware AlcoholicAn individual with an unhealthy dependence on alcohol. From the perspective of AA, it is an individual who has lost control over their life due to an inability to stop drinking. More Ruin
BIG BOOKThe basic text of AA was the first to methodically introduce the 12-steps. It is still the main source for meetings and is quoted in just about all AA and other 12-step literature. the Library of Congress named it one of the 88 “Books that shaped America.” Read more about the Big Book of AA. More: Believing In God Beats Our Old Knowledge
DEAD: Drinking Ends All Dreams
DENIALAddicts can spend years showing clear symptoms of out of control behavior without admitting the severity of the problem to themselves or others. It often takes an external shock such as losing a job, imprisonment, or public humiliation to break the hold of denial. More: Don’t Even Notice I Am Lying
DETACH: Don’t Even Think About Changing (Him or Her)
DUES: Desperately Using Everything but Sobriety
EGO: Easing God Out | Edging God Out
FAILURE: Fearful, Arrogant, Insecure, Lonely, Uncertain, Resentful, Empty
FAITH: Fear Ain’t In This House
FEAR: Few Ever Arrive Rejoicing | Failure Expected And Received | False Evidence Appearing Real | False Expectations Appearing Real | Fear Expressed Allows Relief | Feelings Every Alcoholic Rejects | Fighting Ego Against Reality | Forget Everything and Run | F*(|{ Everything and Run | Face Everything and Recover | Forgetting Everything’s All Right | Frantic Effort to Appear Real | Frantic Efforts to Appear Recovered
FINE: Faithful, Involved, Knowledgeable and Experienced | Feeling Insecure, Numb and Empty | Frantic, Insane, Nuts and Egotistical | Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional | Frustrated, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional
GAYS: Go Ask Your SponsorAn individual in a 12-step program requires a sponsor to help them work the steps and hold them accountable for their recovery. The sponsor should be readily available when help is needed. A member with a sponsor is considered to be the sponsee. More
GIFT: God Is Forever There
GOD: Good Orderly Direction | Group of Drunks
GOYA: Get Off Your Ass
GUT: God’s Undeniable Truths
HALT: Honestly, Actively, Lovingly Tolerant | Hope, Acceptance, Love and ToleranceThe reaction of the body to an increased amount of a controlled substance. When an ever-greater quantity of the substance is necessary to obtain a high, the body has developed a greater tolerance. More | Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired | Horny, Arrogant, Lazy and Tragic
HALTS: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired and Stupid
HALTS FEAR: Hope, Acceptance, Love and Tolerance Stops Forgetting that Everything’s All Right
HELP: His or Her Ever Loving Presence | Hope, Encouragement, Love and Patience
HOPE: Happy Our ProgramThis refers to any official course of treatment for addiction. This could be anything from in-patient facilities, to 12-step programs to harm-reduction programs. More Exists | Hearing Other Peoples’ Experience | Hang On! Peace Exists
HOW: Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness | Honest, Open-minded and Willing
ISM: I, Self, Me | Incredibly Short Memory | InSide Me | I Sabotage Myself
KISS: Keep It Simple, Sweetheart | Keeping It Simple, Spiritually | Keep It Simple, Stupid | Keep It Simple, Sugar
NUTS: Not Using The StepsThe term “12 steps” refers to the core principles of the approach to addiction exemplified by Alcoholics Anonymous and other similar groups. The 12 steps are a set of guidelines designed to help individuals overcome addiction and rebuild their lives. They were created by the founders of Alcoholics A… More
OUR: Openly Using RecoveryThe process by which addicts attempt to break the hold a certain substance or behavior has on their lives. This can refer to participation in a wide variety of methods. What they all have in common, is a sense that life is improving and the addict is regaining control. More
PACE: Positive Attitudes Change Everything
PAID: Pitiful and Incomprehensible Demoralization
PMS: Poor Me Syndrome | Pour More Scotch
PROGRAM: People Relying on God Relaying a Message
RELATIONSHIP: Real Exciting Love Affair Turns Into Outrageous Nightmare, Sobriety Hangs In Peril
RID: Restless, Irritable and Discontented
SLIPA momentary loss of focus on the road to recovery which is quickly rectified. It differs from relapse, which suggests a complete return to pre-recovery patterns of behavior. More: Sobriety Loses Its Priority
SOBER: Son Of A Bitch, Everything’s Real
SPONSOR: Sober Person Offering Newcomers Suggestions On Recovery
STEPS: Solutions To Every Problem in Sobriety | Solutions To Every Problem, Sober
STOP: Sicker Than Other People
TIME: Things I Must Earn
WILLING: When I Live Life, I Need God
YET: You’re Eligible Too
Common Alcoholics Anonymous Slogans
- Easy does it
- Live and let live
- First things first
- One day at a time
- Keep it simple
- Don’t drink even if your ass falls off.
- Don’t drink, don’t think and go to meetings.
- Call your sponsorAn individual in a 12-step program requires a sponsor to help them work the steps and hold them accountable for their recovery. The sponsor should be readily available when help is needed. A member with a sponsor is considered to be the sponsee. More before you pick up the first drink.
- A. A. is the last stop on the train.
- One is too many, a thousand is not enough.
- To be of maximum serviceAA and other 12-step fellowships do not normally have employees. Instead, members volunteer and take roles necessary for the operation of the different groups and the larger infrastructure of the fellowship. Common roles of service include secretary, treasurer, and chairing meetings. More to others.
- We’ll love you, until you learn to love yourself.
- 90 meetings in 90 days.
- Try to be grateful and resentful at the same time, you can’t serve two masters.
- Write a gratitudeAddiction is often a product of a sense of incompleteness. The expression of gratitude for the many things in our life can counter that need and improve the lives of the addict immeasurably. Therefore, the cultivation of gratitude is an essential part of the 12-step program. More list and count your blessings.
- You can always tell an alcoholicAn individual with an unhealthy dependence on alcohol. From the perspective of AA, it is an individual who has lost control over their life due to an inability to stop drinking. More, but you can’t tell him much.
- Faith chases away fear.
- Take other people’s inventoryStep 4 recommends the addict conduct “a searching and fearless moral inventory.” This involves coming to terms with the flaws which preceded addiction and those that came as a result of it. More until you can take your own.
- Pain before sobrietyIn 12-step programs, an individual is sober when they are no longer partaking in the behavior or substance to which they are addicted and living a better life following the program. Both are necessary to achieve sobriety. More and pain before serenityOne of the goals of recovery in 12-steps and many other formats is the attainment of serenity. It is dissatisfaction and disquiet which often drives addictive and destructive behavior and attaining a level of serenity nips cravings in the bud. In 12-step fellowships, this is often cultivated through… More.
- Unity, recoveryThe process by which addicts attempt to break the hold a certain substance or behavior has on their lives. This can refer to participation in a wide variety of methods. What they all have in common, is a sense that life is improving and the addict is regaining control. More, and service.
- A drugA name for a wide variety of chemical substances capable of altering the function of your mind and body in significant ways. These can include over the counter prescriptions, alcohol, and controlled substances. Most drugs are either physically and/or psychologically habit-forming. More is a drug.
- If you want to hide something from an alcoholic, hide it in the Big BookThe basic text of AA was the first to methodically introduce the 12-steps. It is still the main source for meetings and is quoted in just about all AA and other 12-step literature. the Library of Congress named it one of the 88 “Books that shaped America.” Read more about the Big Book of AA. More.
- You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk.
- Live life on life’s terms.
- Keep comingA saying often used in 12-step meetings. It refers to the benefits of continuous attendance at meetings and the benefits of engagement with the fellowship. More back, it works if you work itA common 12-step saying, often used at the end of meetings. “Working it” refers to the steps. The idea behind the saying is that if you follow the 12-steps, you will be able to maintain recovery and healthy life. More.
- She came thru the back door of A.A. (Al-AnonA group designed for friends and family of alcoholics. Using the 12-step program as adapted to this purpose, it helps affected individuals deal with the consequences of addiction while supporting the addict in their lives. More).
- When we were drunk we didn’t have relationships, we took prisoners and held hostages.
- When we couldn’t dominate, control, or manipulate, we would ask for terms and conditions.
- We have to give it away to keep it.
- Surrender to become Victorious.
- The bottle, big house, or the box.
- Death, insanity, or recovery.
- Today “we” have a choice.
- We don’t get run over by the train, we get hit by the engine (1st. drink).
- If ya wonders [if your an alcoholic], then ya is.
- “Instant a–hole”, just add alcoholAn organic compound used in many products, most notably intoxicating drinks. Alcohol addiction is known as alcoholism. The first 12-step program was devised to deal with that malady. More.
- I didn’t get into trouble every time I drank, but every time I got in trouble I was drunk.
- If we knew which drink was going to cause “wet brain”, we would stop just before it.
- I came, I came to, I came to believe.
- Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over, and over again, expecting different results.
- We are without defense against the first drink, our defense must come from a power greater than ourselves.
- What would the master do?
- A newcomerAn individual attending a 12-step meeting for the first time. In most cases, they meet with a veteran member first. More is someone with less than five years sobriety.
- The easier softer way is one thru twelve.
- Don’t work my program, or your program, work “the program”.
- If you want what we have and your willing to go to any length to get it, then your ready to take certain stepsThe term “12 steps” refers to the core principles of the approach to addiction exemplified by Alcoholics Anonymous and other similar groups. The 12 steps are a set of guidelines designed to help individuals overcome addiction and rebuild their lives. They were created by the founders of Alcoholics A… More.
- Any length.
- A desire to stop drinking.
- Death is not the worst thing, it’s just the last thing.
- Three most dangerous words for an alcoholic, “I’ve been thinking”.
- DenialAddicts can spend years showing clear symptoms of out of control behavior without admitting the severity of the problem to themselves or others. It often takes an external shock such as losing a job, imprisonment, or public humiliation to break the hold of denial. More is not a river in Egypt.
- You can’t think your way into a new way of living…you have to live your way into a new way of thinking.
- The mind is like a parachute, it works better when it’s open.
- The person with the most sobriety at a meeting is the one who got up earliest that morning.
- It’s easier to stay sober than to get sober.
- The longer you stay sober, the better it gets.
- A meeting is an event where minutes are kept and hours are lost.
- To thine own self be true.
- When all else fails, follow directions.
- Stick with the winners.
- One alcoholic talking to another one equals one.
- Keep an open mind.
- It works, it really does!
- Don’t quit 5 minutes before the miracle happens.
- You only get out of it what you put into it.
- Sobriety is a journey, not a destination.
- The road to sobriety is a simple journey for confused people with a complicated diseaseSome refer to addiction as a disease, comparing it to physical ailments. There are similarities, as both have a detrimental influence on body and soul and are treatable through medical means. More.
- Serenity isn’t freedom from the storm; it is peace within the storm.
- The price for serenity and sanity is self-sacrifice.
- Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.
- The alcoholic knows loneliness such as few do.
- If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.
- The program is to be “worked”, not “fingered”.
- Faith without works is dead.
- Unless I accept my virtues, I will be overwhelmed with my faults.
- The programThis refers to any official course of treatment for addiction. This could be anything from in-patient facilities, to 12-step programs to harm-reduction programs. More works, are you willing to?
- Let go and let God.
- But for the grace of God.
- There are no coincidences in A.A..
- I can’t handle it God, you take over.
- If God seems far away, who moved?
- It’s a simple program for complicated people.
- Willpower… our will-ingness to use a Higher Power12-step programs greatly stress surrender to and daily communication with a Higher Power. Having trust in something greater than yourself is considered essential for returning sanity in the unmanageable life of an addict. This can be a traditional deity, a spiritual entity or a social one such as th… More.
- Nothing is so bad a drink won’t make it worse.
- A.A. is not something you join, it’s a place you finally reach.
- Alcoholism is an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer.
- Newcomers are the lifeblood of the program, but our oldtimers are our arteries.
- One drink is too many, and a thousand not enough.
- The person I was will drink again, and the person I am won’t take the first drink.
- There are those too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.
- The elevator is broken…use the steps.
- A treatmentA blanket term for concentrated efforts to help addicts transition to a healthier life. These can include any of the following (in isolation or combination): therapy, counseling, medication, harm reduction, or moderation. More center is where you go and pay $25,000 to find out that A.A. meetings are free.
- It’s better to be seen in an A.A. meeting room, than viewed in an A.A. meeting room.
- If you turn it over and don’t let go of it, you will be upside down.
- An alcoholic can’t be grateful and hateful at the same time.
- A.A. is a school in which we are all learners and all teachers.
- The best A.A.’s are the ones that needed it the worst.
- God save me from being right.
- We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we speak.
- I don’t always know what’s right, but I always know what’s wrong.
