Why Germans wear scarves indoors

I have just seen a guy in the office wearing a winter scarf around his neck while wearing a shirt and tie.

wtf is that all about? If you are cold at work put on a jumper. if you are sick, have a lemsip. if you are dying, go home.

They think it actually helps against the viral infection that they already have or think they are about to get. Makes me laugh every time cause I know they ain't a doing it for the comfort aspect. Tends to go along with the "get your feet wet when its cold and you are going to die" or "AC gives you influenza" or "drafts make you deathly ill" crowd.

This is why: Meaning of Kreislaufprobleme / Kreislaufstörung
And this: Opening of windows when it's warm at the office

many people wear scarves inside and out- it's not just German. I have scarves i wear and I have for years- started it when I lived in Belgium.

Lots of my colleagues wear scarves too (warm ones, not the sort worn as an accessory) as soon as the mere hint of a sore throat appears! Not just Germans either! Sick in the head if you ask me...

Its like Granny's miracle cure. Drink this and you will get better in a week to ten days, wear a stupid scarf around your neck so you can't breath and are totally uncomfortable and you will get better in a week to ten days. Mind boggling isn't it? I say lay in bed, do nothing, get plenty of fluids and you will get better in a week to ten days. Of course, Granny's miracle cure will help you sleep (or at least forget that you are sick), but the scarf is still fucking uncomfortable.

Scarves being worn by middle-aged German businessmen are acceptable when you also consider that some of them wear those ridiculous ear-muffs (and appear not to be embarrassed to do so)

wearing a scarf because you're sick doesn't make sense to me. wearing it because you're cold or you like how it looks and want to wear it sure, why not.

I came down with a cold the day after getting home from vacation. My mother-in-law insisted it was because I didn't dress warmly enough for the plane ride back. A few days later my husband started showing symptoms. "Oh, he must have also gotten cold on the plane!" Everybody here seems to think that viruses spontaneously generate in air-conditioned rooms and trying to reason with them gets you nowhere, so it's best to just get used to it.

banause, it's actually likely you did get it from the plane ride, because the air conditioning on a plane is a closed system, so viruses and bacteria circulate freely in the entire plane being transported everywhere through the a/c.
Being cold does not make you sick but it can weaken your immune system as the body needs to use more energy to keep up body temperature that it could otherwise use for other things like fighting off viruses.
I personally don't like scarves at all but some people do. Some people also like being warm, especially when they are already not feeling so great.

Because Germans have an irrational fear of drafts. They think, well my mother-in-law does, that if your neck isn't covered you will catch a cold or get a sore throat. I've noticed that when the temperature falls below 24 degrees Celcius you see a lot of Germans wearing scarves. It's also well known here that if you wear a short skirt you will get a bladder infection .

I'm not denying the possibility that I caught it on the plane (I know that germs circulate around on planes and I often get sick after traveling), but wearing a scarf, earmuffs and winter coat wouldn't have kept me from getting it.

I dunno why Germans do it, but I do it because it looks cool. T-shirt + scarf is a good look. It depends on the scarf though. You can't just use any scarf...there's a whole science to it.
But lately I've been rocking a bandana around my neck like an outlaw. It's the new "indoor scarf"

To be honest I do it at work because it is cold in our office and I find a scarf is exactly what I need to keep myself warm.
Sure a jumper might so the same but jumpers can be restrictive and also might not fit over another jumper (yes I get that cold).
So a scarf keeps me warm.
But I don't wear it as a scarf per se, I just kind of wear it like a shawl.

I do it sometimes, too, when I'm feeling like there are GERMS about, eager to hop through the skin of my neck and infect me. I must have gotten this particular quirk from my father, who spent a lot of time in Germany as a child.

I think it's a fashion statement. Quite a good one too. Most of the European men that I know wear them with jackets and shirts - gives an extra something to the outfit. Kind of like a purse does for the ladies...

eurovol is spot on. People do it here because they think it will either prevent them from getting a cold from the draft, or because they are already sick and believe it will make them better. Old wives tales have really got a hold of the majority of people in the country.

I will wear one inside if i have a sore throat.
Keeping my throat warm makes it feel better.
And it heals faster.

This is exactly what we're talking about here, and frankly I think such nonsense is becoming more common place. I'm sure the recent upsurge of homopathetic medicine certainly hasn't helped the spread of public stupidity.

Please provide us with some scientific evidence that keeping your throat warm with a scarf cures you of a sore throat quicker, because I believe what you're saying is completely made up or all in your head.

There is no scientific reason why bacteria are going to live less long when you give them a nice warm environment to breed in (not that it will be any warmer because inside your throat will be a constant temperature, only your skin temperature would be different when wearing a scarf).

I went on a German exchange when I was about 15 and came down with a cold. They insisted it was because I wasn't wrapping up well enough and tried to make me keep something around my neck at all times, even in bed. Only they didn't have a spare scarf (and to their horror I hadn't brought one), so they attempted forcible strangulation with an old pair of tights instead! I'm still traumatised.

because they re all fcuking gay! thats why.

all happy people wear scarves? so instead of "if you're happy and you know it clap your hands" it should be "if you're happy and you know it wear a scarf"?

Obviously this does not count when you have to lüften

Ah but if you worked in my office you'd wear scarf because the air-con is set to sub-zero and we can't open the windows - so no hope of shutting the damn thing off either when the weather is beautiful outside

They're not the only ones.

I love this site, it's a real tonic. I haven't laughed as much in ages.

We were out canoeing at the weekend. All cocooned in neoprene and drysuits and feeling the cold (yes it was a genuine paddling trip not a kinky party). Anyway, along comes this woman, strips off to her bikini and swims down the river.

As JG so aptly put it at the time, over here people either go round permanantly dressed for an arctic expedition or naked. BobD, you've obviously had the arctic trainee. Be patient! :-)

While we are talking about scarves...what is the deal with all the trendy coloured Palestinian scarves the youngsters are wearing...? Are they a political statement or just fashion?

Because they were told to!

Quite your bitching and be thankful that you can say "air-con" and "sub-zero" in the same sentence.

Nowadays, only fashion. At least if you mean the "poser crowd", not the actual politically active youth.

So last night I questioned the wife why it is she goes livid of one of the kids walks around the house without socks on. 'They'll get a cold' was her answer. So I explained it's a virus. Her answer. 'There are bacteria as well'. I worry about the education system my children are being brought up in.

Want to swap then???

Figures, because I have some activists in my extended family and have never seen them with those coloured scarves in the past!

I had been on a trek in the Himalayas some years ago where the cold biting wind had got into my ears ( in spite of covering) , supposedly condensing the fluid in there and resulting in an ear ache I had never known due to an ear infection.

I had wondered (have used this phrase 3 times on TT already )why people here covered their necks but not their ears.

My search on google for explanations on this threw up articles that were available for reading only on payment. Anyone else found something to substantiate what the cold can do to body temperature, blood pressure and general resistance ?

Sweetypie, I remember reading somewhere that cold (fluids) also lowers blood flow, which is also not good when you have an infection, because that in turn makes your immune system less efficient, but that was specifically about fluids, not sure if the cold from outside would do that too. I think I read this about some kind of throat infection (strep throat, pharyngitis, tonsillitis, something like that) where they said that it is actually better to drink warm fluids than cold fluids for that reason. But cannot find the article anymore now.

In grade 8 science we had to do an experiment and present it to our class. Two girls checked to see if you can catch a cold from walking around barefoot in a cold room with wet hair. Their conclusion was that you could not. That right there is scientific proof enough for me.

As for the scarf thing, maybe it's because their cheap-ass landlord wants to save €20 a month and thus does not feel it necessary for the inside temperature to be much more than 5 degrees above the outside temperature? Oh, wait. Your question wasn't all about me, was it?

You don't say your sex but at the moment I may well be up for some sort of exchange deal on the wife.

They also wear scarves and winter jackets when its really warm outside... like earlier this week..they must have thought I was crazy for wearing capris and flip-flops.

I wear scarves to hide the wrinkles on my neck~ just call me Bea Arthur!