One Drunk to Another What’s what
Watch The Kitchen Table

Who, What, When and Where

What’s what

The words in these histories that a newcomer may not know: what each one means, and where it came from.

Tap a word to see what it means, the part that tells where it came from, and every part of the site it turns up in. In the deep dives, a word with a dotted underline opens the same card without leaving the page.

Each one is drawn from what the site’s own pages say, and those pages name their sources. A book or a magazine also links to The Bookshelf, which says where to read it.

A

AA World ServicesAA’s publishing company

The company that publishes AA’s books and runs its General Service Office. AA Grapevine, Inc., which publishes the Grapevine, is AA’s other company.

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Advisory actionA decision of the General Service Conference

A recommendation of the General Service Conference. Any item that gets two-thirds of the Conference’s vote becomes a Conference Advisory Action.

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Al-AnonA fellowship for the families of alcoholics

The fellowship of alcoholics’ families. In 1951 Lois W. and her friend Anne B. opened an office for the family groups that had grown up around AA, and early the next year the groups chose the name Al-Anon.

6 · The Clearing HouseWhere it came from, in Captain of My Soul

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AlateenAl-Anon for teenagers

The fellowship for the teenage children of alcoholics, part of Al-Anon. Teenagers in California started meetings of their own, and in 1957 the first Alateen group registered with Al-Anon’s office.

7 · Learning not to hateWhere it came from, in Captain of My Soul

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Alcoholic FoundationAA’s first board of trustees

The trust AA’s friends set up in 1938 to raise money for the Big Book, with alcoholic and nonalcoholic trustees and the nonalcoholics always in the majority by one. It served as AA’s board of trustees, and is now its General Service Board.

1 · The barest majorityWhere it came from, in By the Carload

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AllergyDr. Silkworth’s theory of alcoholism

Dr. William D. Silkworth’s word for alcoholism. In two short articles in 1937 he wrote that true alcoholism is an allergy, and that willpower is not the cure. Doctors don’t call it an allergy anymore.

5 · The papersWhere it came from, in The Little Doctor

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AnonymityWhy members go by first names

One of AA’s Traditions: members go by first names at meetings, and what people share there is meant to stay there. As the newspapers found AA in 1939 and 1940, its members had to decide how anonymous to be, and at first anonymity meant hiding.

4 · First names onlyWhere it came from, in Keep Coming Back Why does everyone use first names?Come Early, Stay Late

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AA’s archivesAA’s own records, in New York

AA’s collection of its old letters, files and recordings, kept at its office in New York. It grew out of Bill W.’s boxes of old files and opened in 1975, with Bill’s secretary, Nell Wing, as its first archivist.

7 · The old filesWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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AreaA part of AA’s service structure with its own assembly

A part of AA’s service structure with its own assembly, which elects a delegate to the General Service Conference. The plan of 1950 gave each state and province one, and more where AA was big; today there are 93 areas in the U.S. and Canada, in eight regions.

5 · Panel TwoWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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B

Belladonna treatmentTowns Hospital’s cure

The treatment Towns Hospital sold as a cure for alcohol and drug addiction: belladonna, henbane and prickly ash with strong laxatives, given around the clock for about two days.

2 · Towns HospitalWhere it came from, in The Little Doctor

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The Big BookAA’s basic text

Alcoholics Anonymous, the book a few dozen sober drunks wrote, paid for and published in 1939, and the book that gave AA its name.

The Big BookWhere it came from, in By the Carload On The BookshelfWhat it is and where to read it

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Box 4-5-9AA’s newsletter

The newsletter AA’s office sends its groups. It began as a bulletin in November 1940, went out under several names, and was named for the office’s post office box with its Holiday issue of 1966.

3 · Box 459Where it came from, in Trusted Servants On The BookshelfWhat it is and where to read it

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Box 459AA’s post office box in New York

The post office box at Grand Central where AA’s mail has gone since 1944, when the office moved to Lexington Avenue. The office has moved four times since, and the mail still goes to the same box.

3 · Box 459Where it came from, in Trusted Servants

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C

Cana ConferenceDays of talks for married couples

Days of talks and discussion for husbands and wives, named for the wedding feast at Cana in John’s Gospel. AA’s newsletter says Father Ed Dowling started them in 1942 and spoke at one once a month, using the Twelve Steps, for the rest of his life; another account puts the first in New York in 1943.

5 · Couples are not aloneWhere it came from, in Some Bum from St. Louis

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ChipA token for time sober

A chip or coin many groups hand out to mark time sober, such as thirty days or a year. Chips are a local custom, not something AA makes, and an Indianapolis group may have begun giving them out around 1942.

6 · The chipsWhere it came from, in Keep Coming Back What are the chips?Come Early, Stay Late

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Class A trusteeA trustee who isn’t an alcoholic

One of the nonalcoholic friends on AA’s board of trustees. Until 1971 they outnumbered the AA members, in case the drunks got drunk; since then the members have held at least two seats for every one of theirs.

1 · Class A and Class BWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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Class B trusteeA trustee who is an AA member

One of the AA members on AA’s board of trustees. They were the smaller part of the board until 1971, and in 2024 the board chose one of them as its chair, by AA’s count the first.

1 · Class A and Class BWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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Closed meetingA meeting for those who want to stop drinking

An AA meeting for members and for anyone who has a drinking problem and wants to stop drinking. You don’t have to be sure you’re an alcoholic to go.

What’s the difference between open and closed meetings?Come Early, Stay Late

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D

DCMDistrict committee member

A district committee member, elected by the GSRs of a district to sit on the area committee. The plan of 1950 called them committeemen.

5 · Panel TwoWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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DelegateAn area’s member at the General Service Conference

The member an area’s assembly elects, by written ballot and two-thirds of the vote, to serve two years at the General Service Conference. If nobody reaches two-thirds, a name is drawn from a hat. Since 1969 delegates from AA in other countries have met at the World Service Meeting.

5 · Panel TwoWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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DistrictNearby groups, in AA’s service structure

Nearby groups, in AA’s service structure. Their GSRs meet as a district and elect a district committee member, the DCM, who sits on the area committee.

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The Doctor’s OpinionDr. Silkworth’s letter in the Big Book

Dr. William D. Silkworth’s letter vouching for AA, which has opened the Big Book since its first edition in 1939.

6 · The Doctor’s OpinionWhere it came from, in The Little Doctor

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E

Emmanuel MovementA Boston church’s help for nervous troubles

From 1906, Emmanuel Church in Boston ran classes and counseling for people with nervous troubles, drink among them. Its lay therapists included Courtenay Baylor, whom Rowland H.’s family paid in 1933 and 1934.

5 · The pint in the bushesWhere it came from, in Court of Last Resort

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F

The four absolutesThe Oxford Group’s four standards

The Oxford Group’s standards of honesty, unselfishness, purity and love, each one absolute. AA’s Twelve Steps took their place, and the word absolute isn’t in the Steps.

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G

General Service BoardAA’s board of trustees

AA’s board of trustees, which began as the Alcoholic Foundation. It looks after AA’s services between Conferences; in 2024 it had twenty-two trustees, fifteen of them AA members and seven nonalcoholics.

1 · Class A and Class BWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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General Service ConferenceAA’s yearly meeting of delegates

The meeting each spring of delegates from AA’s areas with its trustees, the directors of its two companies and staff from the office and the Grapevine. It first met in April 1951, and in 1955 AA’s founders handed its services to it.

LegacyWhere it came from, in Rule 62

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General Service OfficeAA’s office in New York, or GSO

AA’s office in New York, which answers its mail and serves its groups, with staff members who take turns at each job. It has been at 475 Riverside Drive since 1992, and its mail still goes to Box 459.

3 · Box 459Where it came from, in Trusted Servants

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General WarrantiesThe General Service Conference’s six promises

Six promises that end the Conference’s charter of 1955, and later the twelfth Concept: among them that the Conference will never become a seat of wealth or power, never put one member in unqualified authority over the others, and never act as a government.

6 · The right of decisionWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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The GrapevineAA’s magazine

AA’s monthly magazine, started in June 1944 by six members in New York: eight pages, fifteen cents a copy. It still comes out every month, in print, online and in an app.

4 · Ink-stained wretchesWhere it came from, in Jittery and Alone On The BookshelfWhat it is and where to read it

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GSRGeneral service representative

The general service representative a group may elect, to carry its conscience to the district and the area and bring the Conference’s news back. The plan of 1950 called it a group representative.

5 · Panel TwoWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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H

Home groupThe group a member belongs to

The group a member chooses to belong to and attend regularly. Members vote on their home group’s business and on questions that affect AA as a whole, and you belong to a group if you say you do.

What’s a home group?Come Early, Stay Late

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House partyAn Oxford Group gathering

An Oxford Group gathering, part social weekend and part retreat, which Frank Buchman began among college students in the 1920s. A ten-day house party brought the Group to Akron in 1933.

2 · Soul surgeryWhere it came from, in What Not to Do

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I

Intergroup or central officeA city’s own AA office

A local AA office, paid for by the groups it serves. It answers AA’s local phone line, keeps the meeting list, sells the literature and passes calls for help to members ready to go. Chicago’s opened in 1941, and New York’s groups formed their Intergroup in 1946.

2 · A committee of sevenWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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International ConventionAA’s gathering every five years

AA’s convention every five years, held since the first, at Cleveland in 1950, where the members adopted the Traditions. The one planned for Detroit in 2020 was canceled, and the next is at St. Louis in 2030.

7 · A standing voteWhere it came from, in Rule 62

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L

La ViñaThe Grapevine’s Spanish-language sister

The Spanish-language magazine AA Grapevine publishes, first printed in June 1996, after Spanish-speaking members had long wanted to read and write for the Grapevine in their own language.

4 · En españolWhere it came from, in The Only Requirement

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Loan copyThe Big Book’s draft, sent out for comment

One of four hundred copies of the Big Book’s draft, sent out early in 1939 for comment before it went to press. Back came a gentler tone, one changed word and a new member.

5 · Loan copyWhere it came from, in By the Carload On The BookshelfWhat it is and where to read it

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LonerA member with no group nearby

An AA member with no group nearby, staying sober on the Big Book and letters. The first, in California in 1939, had two chapters of the book in the mail, and his story ran in its first edition as Lone Endeavor.

1 · Lone EndeavorWhere it came from, in Jittery and Alone

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Loners-Internationalists MeetingAA’s meeting by mail

AA’s meeting by mail, every two months, for members at sea, in places with no meetings and at home because they can’t get out. It began with a tanker captain’s round robin of letters in 1949 and took its name in 1976.

5 · A loner at seaWhere it came from, in Jittery and Alone

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Lord’s PrayerThe prayer many meetings close with

The prayer AA’s first meetings in Akron, then part of the Oxford Group, closed with. Many meetings still do; in 1962 an answer at the General Service Conference called joining in a matter of personal conscience.

7 · The closingWhere it came from, in Keep Coming Back How does the meeting end?Come Early, Stay Late

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M

Moral Re-ArmamentThe Oxford Group’s later name

The name Frank Buchman gave the Oxford Group in 1938, when it turned to statesmen and nations. It became Initiatives of Change in 2001.

7 · Moral Re-ArmamentWhere it came from, in What Not to Do

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O

Online IntergroupThe office for AA’s online groups

The Online Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous, which serves AA’s online groups, meeting by video and telephone, on message boards, by email and in chat rooms. It dates its birth to February 1, 1996.

6 · Bulletin boardsWhere it came from, in Jittery and Alone

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Open meetingA meeting anyone may attend

An AA meeting for anyone interested in AA, whether or not they have a drinking problem. Family, friends and the simply curious are welcome to sit in.

What’s the difference between open and closed meetings?Come Early, Stay Late

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The Oxford GroupThe Christian movement AA grew out of

A Christian movement led by Frank Buchman, a Lutheran minister from Pennsylvania, that set out to change the world one life at a time. It sobered up Ebby T. and brought Bill W. and Dr. Bob together; New York’s alcoholics parted company with it in 1937, and it went on as Moral Re-Armament.

The Oxford GroupWhere it came from, in What Not to Do

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P

PanelThe delegates who start in the same year

The delegates who begin their two years at the General Service Conference in the same year. Panel One came in 1951 and Panel Two in 1952, so that about half the delegates are new each spring.

5 · Panel TwoWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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PigeonEarly AA’s word for a newcomer

Early AA’s word for a newcomer being sponsored. AA’s own pamphlet on sponsorship never uses it, and in places calls the person sponsored a sponsee.

5 · PigeonsWhere it came from, in You Had to Be Sponsored

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The PreambleThe paragraph read to open many meetings

The paragraph many groups read to open their meetings. A Grapevine editor borrowed it from the Big Book’s Foreword in June 1947, and in 2021 the General Service Conference changed it to say people instead of men and women.

2 · The PreambleWhere it came from, in Keep Coming Back

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Public informationAA telling the public about itself

AA’s word for its work of telling the public about itself, by the Eleventh Tradition’s rule of attraction rather than promotion. Its public information committees take its spots to radio and TV stations, list open meetings in local papers and help members give interviews that keep their anonymity. A committee at AA’s headquarters took public relations over from Bill W. in 1956.

5 · MasksWhere it came from, in A Bunch of Actors

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Public service announcementAA’s spots on radio and TV

A short spot AA makes for radio and television stations to run, often called a PSA. Its first television spots, in the 1960s, showed members only in shadow; today actors play the members, under a policy of 2011 on showing their faces.

6 · In shadowWhere it came from, in A Bunch of Actors

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Q

Quiet timeThe Oxford Group’s morning habit

The Oxford Group’s morning habit: you sat by yourself with a pad and pencil, listened, and wrote down whatever came into your mind. Anne S. took it up in 1933 and kept it for good.

3 · Quiet timeWhere it came from, in Call Me Anne

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R

Regional ForumTrustees and staff meeting members where they live

A gathering where AA’s trustees and office staff go out to meet the members of a region where they live, held since 1975.

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Regional trusteeA trustee elected from one region

A trustee who is an AA member, elected from one of the regions AA’s areas are grouped in. The first were elected in 1963, from six regions of the United States; the board now has one for each region.

1 · Class A and Class BWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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RotationTaking turns at service

Taking turns, so that no one holds a service job for long. A Cleveland committee of 1939, where one man and one woman stepped off each month, is said to be AA’s first; the office staff have taken turns since about 1950, and delegates serve two years.

2 · A committee of sevenWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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S

Self-supportAA pays its own way

AA’s rule, its Seventh Tradition, that its groups pay their own way and turn down money from outside. At his father’s dinner for AA in 1940, Nelson Rockefeller told the guests AA should be self-supporting.

5 · The basketWhere it came from, in Keep Coming Back Do I have to put money in the basket?Come Early, Stay Late

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Serenity PrayerA short prayer AA took up in 1941

A short prayer a member brought to AA’s office in 1941, cut from a newspaper notice. The office had it printed on wallet cards, and it soon took its place beside the Lord’s Prayer. Nobody at the office knew who had written it.

1 · The Serenity PrayerWhere it came from, in Keep Coming Back How does the meeting end?Come Early, Stay Late

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Service structureHow AA’s services are organized

The part of AA most members never see: the trustees who look after its money and its name, the office in New York that answers its mail, the Conference of delegates that meets each spring, and the committees, central offices and archives in between.

Who runs AAWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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SlipA drink after a time sober

A drink, or a return to drinking, after a time sober. Early members had them too: Ebby T. had his first in April 1937, and Marty M. had the last of three at Christmas 1940.

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SlogansThe mottoes on meeting-room walls

The short mottoes on meeting-room walls. The oldest, First Things First, Live and Let Live and Easy Does It, first appeared in print in 1939, in the Big Book’s chapter for families.

LegacyWhere it came from, in Keep Coming Back

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Spiritual awakeningStep Twelve’s words

The change Step Twelve says comes “as the result of these steps.” The Big Book’s first printing, in 1939, called it a spiritual experience; the word changed in 1941, when a new appendix said that for most members it comes slowly.

4 · The educational varietyWhere it came from, in The Educational Variety

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Spiritual ExercisesSt. Ignatius’s retreat of prayer

A retreat of prayer and self-examination about a month long, set down in the 1500s by St. Ignatius, who founded the Jesuits. Father Ed Dowling saw the Twelve Steps as close kin to it, and in 1953 set the two side by side for a conference of priests.

3 · Come and get itWhere it came from, in Some Bum from St. Louis

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T

Third LegacyBill W.’s name for service

Service, as Bill W. called it: AA’s third legacy, after recovery and unity. In 1950 he set out his plan for a General Service Conference in a pamphlet titled The Third Legacy.

7 · A standing voteWhere it came from, in Rule 62

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Third Legacy ProcedureHow AA elects its delegates

AA’s way of electing its delegates: written ballots, two-thirds of the vote to win, and if nobody gets there, a name drawn from a hat, now one of the top two.

5 · Panel TwoWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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Twelfth Step callCarrying the message to an alcoholic who wants help

A visit or call by an AA member to an alcoholic who wants help, carrying the message as AA’s Twelfth Step asks. Before AA had a word for it, one drunk went to the next.

1 · Working with OthersWhere it came from, in You Had to Be Sponsored

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Twelve and TwelveBill W.’s book on the Steps and Traditions

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Bill W.’s essays on each of the Steps and each of the Traditions, published in 1953.

4 · Wit’s EndWhere it came from, in Suggestions Only On The BookshelfWhat it is and where to read it

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The Twelve ConceptsBill W.’s principles for AA’s services

Twelve Concepts for World Service, Bill W.’s essays on why AA’s services work as they do. The General Service Conference accepted them in 1962, and their short form is in the Big Book.

6 · The right of decisionWhere it came from, in Trusted Servants

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The Twelve StepsAA’s program of recovery

The twelve steps of AA’s program, which Bill W. wrote in December 1938 for the Big Book. They have barely changed a word since 1939.

3 · How It WorksWhere it came from, in Keep Coming Back

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The Twelve TraditionsAA’s principles for its groups

AA’s principles for its groups rather than its members: who may belong, who pays, who speaks for AA, and what it will and won’t do in public. They were first published in 1946 and adopted at Cleveland in 1950.

The Twelve TraditionsWhere it came from, in Rule 62

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W

The WashingtoniansDrunks helping drunks, a century before AA

A society of reformed drunks that six drinking companions started in Baltimore in 1840. Its meetings swept the country and then faded, and Bill W. made its fall AA’s warning.

1 · The WashingtoniansWhere it came from, in Rule 62

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Works PublishingThe company that published the Big Book

The company Hank P. set up in 1938 so that the members could publish the Big Book themselves, with stock certificates from a stationery store. AA’s trustees bought back every share by 1940.

2 · Par value $25Where it came from, in By the Carload

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Printed from One Drunk to Another, an independent AA history · onedrunktoanother.org/what/