How do email addresses get to a point...

[coloradodem2005]

...that they accumulate so much spam?

[ghostsofgiants]

1. Spammers are always using random combinations of words and numbers

And there are a lot of spammers out there. It can get annoying to say the very least.

[HawkerHurricane]

2. Oh, easy...

You apply to something... website, credit card application, whatever... and include your email address. Whatever you applied for eventually sells your email addee to someone, who sends you spam... then they sell it to someone else, and so on and so forth, and eventually you get more spam than anything else.

Once one disreputable business knows your address, they all do.