Scarves Protect Against . . . Vampires?

Today I want to talk about scarves. If anyone around here is obsessed with vampires, it's Germans, as displayed by their love, or should I say need for scarves (possibly for protection against those sort that wonder out of their castles in Romania). I couldn't quite figure it out. At first I thought that it was one of those cool but silly things (like a guy carrying around a ninja turtles backpack from when he was 10) when I saw guys wearing striped scarves. Then I started to realize that all guys wear scarves. Not even all girls wear scarves where I'm from, so that was surprising. I figured it must be just be one of those unconscious fashion things. Whenever we were getting ready to go anywhere, people would ask me where my scarf was and help me get it on. Then I forgot to wear my scarf one day. And that's how I figured out the purpose (for Germans) of scarves. The conversations that day went like this:

Friend: Where's your scarf?
Me: Oh, my scarf? I guess I forgot it today.
Friend: Oh no! Your neck is going to get cold.

I thought to myself, "Really. Have you ever had a cold neck?!?" The classic ears, nose, fingers get cold, but your neck?

The next conversation was even more telling:

Friend #2: Where's your scarf?
Me: I forgot to wear it today.
Friend #2: That's not good. Your neck will get cold. Zip your coat all the way up.
Me: I'll be okay.
Friend #2: You'll get sick.

Then it hit me: my friend had written about how she was so nervous about getting sick before a concert that she wore a scarf all the time. They think that a neck exposed to cold will make you sick! Do people think that in the U.S. and I just haven't noticed it?

And yes, I wear my scarf every day. Mostly because it's nice to snuggle my cold nose in.