Scarves: Fashionable--but fatal?

[Tallor]

I noticed that weighted scarves in Low-Tech can be used as makeshift garrotes, and even ordinary scarves can be used at 0 change in damage but at -1 to hit.

Now I must admit beforehand that I live in a pretty hot region of the world, so my experience with scarves is laughably limited. However, I did find low-tech's entry particularly puzzling.

The few scarves I own are rather wide and soft, and I believe would be more embarrassing than damaging as a weapon. I don't think they'd stand up to abuse, either, so an average person's neck may just damage the scarf during a struggle, instead of the other way around.

Chains/kusaris make sense. Belts make sense. Stolen low-key strings from a piano make sense--but scarves? Maybe those high-fashion silk scarves, ones that are relatively inflexible and thin--but those cushy wool ones seem like they'd do 1 damage per turn at best.

What do you think?

[Refplace]

Makes sense to me.
Scarves are easy to cut but hard to pull apart.
They are even hard to tear but you can usually do it.
However when using one as a garrotte you would be folding into a tight string like thing and it would be pretty hard to tear or pull apart from tension.
The real problem with using one would be getting a good enough grip. Unless its long enough you can wrap around your hands.

[Bruno]

Knitted scarves are soft and fluffy, but they're basically knotted string, and the string is not frail. Wool yarn is surprisingly tough, and so are the synthetic replacements like acrylic. The knitted fabric is stretchy, due to the weave, but not weak against pulling - it doesn't rip. It doesn't do well against cutting (it all unravels if you cut a strand and then pull) but just yanking won't do it. And the bigger the handful of the weave you have, the tougher it is - if you have an entire end of the scarf in your hand, it will be pretty tough.

We regularly have accidents reported in the winter here about people getting scarves caught in bus doors or the like, which is why you get cautioned against having big beads or large knots as decoration at the end of scarves. Similarly, the draw strings on winter coats should never have large toggles if you take the bus. You're not going to be decapitated (unlike urban myth), but you can get choked, have your windpipe crushed, get dragged, or just knocked over and end under the wheels of either the bus or a following vehicle.

Isadora Duncan was famously killed when she wore her signature long white scarf in a convertible. The scarf got caught up in the wheel, and her neck was broken. If it can survive that kind of mechanical stress, it can survive a human murdering you with it.

[Bruno]

I realize you're not familiar with the weave!

The knit weave shears when you pull on it - it sort of collapses into a longer, thinner, denser woven piece of fabric from yanking. This can really ruin a sweater by stretching it into a shapeless mess, and isn't really good for a scarf artistically, but it rapidly turns into a woven rope.

[Celti]

I have several cashmere scarves, several more woven silk scarves, a fancy thick and plush Fourth Doctor wool scarf. All of them would make quite serviceable improvised garottes, because as has been stated just about any scarf, knitted or woven, is nigh-impossible to break by simply yanking on it — they stretch long before they break, and they don't stretch very much (properly twisted, a woven scarf will support at least a couple hundred pounds as an improvised rope).

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I realize you're not familiar with the weave!

The knit weave shears when you pull on it - it sort of collapses into a longer, thinner, denser woven piece of fabric from yanking. This can really ruin a sweater by stretching it into a shapeless mess, and isn't really good for a scarf artistically, but it rapidly turns into a woven rope.

Oh, good tip for the forensics guys in a Mystery campaign!

[whswhs]

The death of Isadora Duncan is famous in certain circles. Wikipedia describes it in their first paragraph on her. There is also a memorable scene in the Season 1 finale of Orphan Black.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Tallor

I noticed that weighted scarves in Low-Tech can be used as makeshift garrotes, and even ordinary scarves can be used at 0 change in damage but at -1 to hit.

Now I must admit beforehand that I live in a pretty hot region of the world, so my experience with scarves is laughably limited. However, I did find low-tech's entry particularly puzzling.

The few scarves I own are rather wide and soft, and I believe would be more embarrassing than damaging as a weapon. I don't think they'd stand up to abuse, either, so an average person's neck may just damage the scarf during a struggle, instead of the other way around.

Chains/kusaris make sense. Belts make sense. Stolen low-key strings from a piano make sense--but scarves? Maybe those high-fashion silk scarves, ones that are relatively inflexible and thin--but those cushy wool ones seem like they'd do 1 damage per turn at best.

What do you think?

As others have pointed out, you can make a workable garrote out of a woolen scarf (and woven as opposed to knitted wool scarves can be relatively thin [about as thick as one side of a T-shirt]). Wool scarves in cold weather countries can exceed three feet in length, so there's quite a bit of room to wrap your hands within it for grip. The big thing to remember is to make a knot at the mid-point of the scarf. This concentrates the force on the knot enabling you to crush the larynx before the victim can cry out. (It gets mentioned in passing in Canadian Forces training.)

That said, my guess is the scarf and particularly the weighted scarf being referred to in Low -Tech is the rumal [which translates as "yellow scarf" though it's thought it may have been more of a cream colour] used from about 1350-1850 by the Thuggee of India. While the rumal could refer to a headscarf, it also covered a man's cloth headdress in general, so it could be quite long. The material of the rumal was usually silk but could also be cotton. Quick expiry wasn't usually a problem as Thugs usually operated three to a victim with one acting as the actual strangler and the other two acting to immobilize the victim, apparently by pulling his feet away from the strangler, which probably hastened the ensuing death.

[safisher]

If you want to see how incredibly impressive hand knitting can be, look at the testing of George Washington's sash in this video. It was designed as a field litter! (Watch them demonstrate about 2:15 or so).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoFMeGNshcM

[Flyndaran]

I think it's also an issue of how fragile our tracheae are. A scarf doesn't need to pull a truck to withstand human lethal forces.