Confusing to me, too-but I cannot imagine another reason for neck-carry. Maybe necessary when your clothing has no pockets? Dunno. But as you can see, lots of smart people do wear stuff around the neck. Moderator Cavanaugh waers the following on occasion :"A folding Myerchin knife, whistle and signal mirror went on a neck lanyard.”
(http://www.equipped.org/0601rescue.htm)

Based upon the discussion, I elected to put the following items around my neck, primarily for solo suburban canoe excursions:

Mirror
Gerber folder
Ferrocerium rod
Cell phone
Compass
Boat reg documents
Whistle
butane lighter

Everything but the whistle goes into the drybag. Phone and lighter go into a ziplock and then in the drybag, 'cuz the sealine disclaimer indicates that all triple fold bags leak.

The final package is bulky but reasonably light. I inserted a breakaway link in the neck cord by tying each end of the cord to a split ring-the cheap kind that dealerships use to attach service tickets to your keys. I put a photo in the Image Forum.