"That thing around your neck."
"Oh.", I said. "I learned something new." Then I brightened. "My brain just grew."
I had just read an article that said as we grew older the memory part of our brain shrinks. The good news. We can regrow that part of our brain. One way is to learn something new everyday. I don't know if learning one word alone can do the trick, but it couldn't hurt.
If you want to read the article, go to Prevention magazine. Don't ask me which issue. I don't remember.