Accountablity: Why this Site

Today’s word is:

excrescence \ik-SKRESS-uhn(t)s\, noun:1. Something (especially something abnormal) growing out from something else.2. A disfiguring or unwanted mark, part, or addition.

Example:
Even Henry Mee's well-known portrait of Anthony Powell makes the novelist look as if he had some odd excrescence growing out of his head.-- DJ Taylor, "Picture this dead chicken, then ponder a fine artistic tradition", Independent, June 22, 2001

Excrescence is one of those five-dollar words. If I were referring to the sentence above, I’d probably say, "Henry Mee had some weird abnormal protrusion growing out of his head. It was really disgusting". Using "excresence" is far more gentile and dignified.

This brings me to the core of why there are all of these “today’s word” postings. I have a couple of simple reasons:
1) to expand my vocabulary and ...
2) the fear of Alzheimer’s.
I believe if I practice writing about the Word for Today from dictionary.com's selection, I might actually retain something.

It’s good to continue to strive no matter how slow the journey or how hard the climb.