[Ads-l] Huberman quirks

[Nancy Friedman]

I wonder whether "supplement stack" has been influenced by computer-jargon
"stack," which has been around for decades. The Jargon File, published in
1991 as The New Hacker's Dictionary, defines "stack" as "the set of things
[a person] has to do in the future"; to "smash the stack" is "to write past
the end of an array declared *auto* in a routine." A full-stack developer
handles both front- and back-end development of a website or application.
Wordnik includes this definition: "A section of memory and its associated
registers used for temporary storage of information in which the item most
recently stored is the first to be retrieved." Wordnik's example sentences,
all from between 2005 and 2010, are mostly tech-flavored.

"Stack" also appears in the name of the publishing platform Substack
(founded 2017). It's both an established computer term (a subset of a
stack) and a compound suggesting "a stack of subscriptions."

In Huberman's case, many of his listeners come from the tech world and are
interested in bio-hacking (etc.), so using a term from computer lingo could
be a way to connect with them.


Nancy Friedman
Chief Wordworker
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On Sat, Jul 12, 2025 at 6:09 PM Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:

> It's been common for decades in the bodybuilding/strength training
> communities to refer to
> combinations of anabolic steroids as "stacks", and to verb this, in the
> sense 'to combine steroids'.
>
> Lots of examples from the 1980s; earliest I can easily find is:
>
> 1985 _1986 Medical & Health Annual_ (Encyclopædia Britannica) 304/1
> Because different types of steroids have differing anabolic properties
> (and are associated
> with varying side effects), serious steroid users typically combine a
> number of steroids in regimens called "steroid stacks", in which different
> types of drugs are used in combinations or are "stacked" one upon another.
>
> https://archive.org/details/medicalhealthann0000unse/page/304/mode/1up
>
> I think I've only heard it in this exact context, though; the use in
> reference to regular nutritional supplements, or differing varieties or
> protocols of exercise, feels unusual.
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
>
> On Sat, Jul 05, 2025 at 08:51:17AM -0400, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > Dr. Andrew Huberman, associate professor of neurobiology and
> > ophthalmology at  Stanford Medical School,  advises you to "build a stack
> > of foundational supplements" for maximal health; in other words a lineup
> of
> > supplemental interactive micronutrients.
> >
> > He also talks about "stacks" of methods and practices, like yoga and
> > exercise, to keep you functioning. This use of "stack" is novel to me, as
> > is his frequent reference to healthy practices as "tools."
> >
> > Weirdly, he also says "messajeez" for  "mcgs."
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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