# Hurt locker



## erkur

< Topic: Hurt locker >

Is it something like "box of pain"?


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## FurryOne

No idea.  Can you give us some context please?


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## oiseauxlahaut

Did you get this from the movie, "The Hurt Locker"? I haven't seen it, but I know it's about the war in Iraq and a unit that works with bombs. I looked it up and apparently it is about pain- getting into the hurt locker means getting a lot of pain.


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## erkur

Yeah-yeah, it's the name of the movie (forgot to state it in the first post, sorry). 
I watched it in English and did not think about the meaning of its name until seeing some variations in Russian (Storm master, Scrape, Concealed Danger). Now I know that movies can have different names in different languages that are not related in meaning, I just got curious about what the original name could mean.


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## ewie

I've never heard of it, Erkur.  Perhaps it's military jargon or slang.


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## erkur

*Found this explanation: *
*



In Iraq, it is soldier vernacular to speak of explosions as sending you to "the hurt locker."

Click to expand...

 So, "they sent him to the hurt locker" would mean "he was blown in an explosion"?*

little update





> This thrilling and heart-pounding look at the effects of combat and danger on the human psyche is based on the first-hand observations of journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal, who was embedded with a special bomb unit in Iraq. These men spoke of explosions as putting you in “the hurt locker.”


Still not sure of how it would be used in a sentence.


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## Dimcl

erkur said:


> *Found this explanation: *
> *So, "they sent him to the hurt locker" would mean "he was blown in an explosion"?*


 
The only reference that I could find for this (not related to the movie) was that it's soldier slang for "a really bad place".


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## Cagey

I think it's a play on the idea that a locker is where things are stored, especially clothes and things you might use.  A _hurt locker_ would be a place where pain is stored; you come away with a full supply of it.


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## Arrius

This is a genuine question about language which does not, as far as I can see, break any rules:
The movie, "The Hurt Locker" is currently in the news as having won a BAFTA award. It was an easy story to follow, but I am puzzled by the title which may be some americanism or military expression unknown to me. Neither the article about it on the Internet Movie Data Base nor the articles in various languages in Wikipedia explain why the movie is thus called. Nor is there any character called Hurt, a not uncommon name, whose locker was examined post mortem after a vain attempt at defusing an Improvised Explosive Device, or any spoken use of the phrase by any of the cast that would throw light on the meaning of the title.
Some Hollywood titles are deliberately enigmatic, such as "Reservoir Dogs" which turned out to be a combination of the titles of two earlier movies its director admired: "Straw Dogs" (itself based on some obscure Chinese saying) and Louis Malle's "Au revoir les enfants". Is "The Hurt Locker" similarly mysterious or is there some simple lexical explanation?


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## Wishfull

Hi.
"Hurt" is an adjective which has the meaning of "harmful".
"Locker" is a noun which has the meaning of "box".

So, The Hurt Locker means just "The harmful box", which means "the bomb".

I don't think there is any profound background about it, considering that your search about it was failed.


edit;Now I know I misunderstood completely.
And thank you　very much, Arrius, for your kind explanation and  consolation. (#12   ↓)


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## bluegiraffe

It's an interesting theory Wishful, but very contrived!  Also, "hurt" doesn't mean "harmful".


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## Arrius

Wishfull said:


> Hi.
> "Hurt" is an adjective which has the meaning of "harmful".
> "Locker" is a noun which has the meaning of "box".
> 
> So, The Hurt Locker means just "The harmful box", which means "the bomb".
> 
> I don't think there is any profound background about it, considering that your search about it was failed.


 
It is the victim who is hurt, not the (steel) locker, and no native speaker would ever refer to a bomb as a locker. But thanks anyway for the try. Probably the equivalent words in Japanese have a wider range of meaning, judging by the little I have been told about the language.


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## jpyvr

Most online sources, according to a simple google search, seem to indicate that in military slang, the "hurt locker" is a place of ultimate pain. Not having been in the military, nor having heard the  expressions myself prior to its use as the title for the film, I can only offer this meaning as a generally accepted one.


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## shawnee

I saw a review of this just the other day where the title was discussed, but can I remember what they said? I think it was something like when things went bad, the pain was shifted to another place, a means of distancing from the moment. I couldn't have made that up could I?


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## panjandrum

KATHRYN BIGELOW (Director): The Hurt Locker directly translated means the place of ultimate pain and it's a term that Mark Boal, when he was on the embed in Baghdad with the explosive ordinance _[sic]_ disposal team, would use from time to time mentioning... "If this particular ordinance were to detonate, we would be in the hurt locker."
Source


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## Arrius

Thanks everybody for your comments. So it would appear to be (US) army slang for being killed or maimed by a bomb or other hazard. One definition of *locker* is *▸ noun:* a_ trunk for storing personal possessions; usually kept at the foot of a bed *(as in a barracks*)._
A similar idea is conveyed by *Davy Jones' locker*, where the corpses of drowned sailors are said to be stowed away on the sea bed.

To avoid possible confusion arising from earlier posts, may I point out that _ordnance _with no I means military supplies, usually referring to shells, whereas ord*i*nance (sic) means a clerical (religious) or secular law or decree. And one is _blown *up*_ by a bomb, not just _blown,_ the colloquial meaning of which I shall leave the uninitiated and curious to look up in The Urban Dictionary.


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## preppie

I am not in the military but we have acquired a lot of expressions over the years from the military and other sources.  I wonder if the "hurt locker" is a way of conveying an internal container to house the pain.  The injured party, in excruciating pain, needs to put it away, out of his conscious mind so that he can survive the injury.  It sounds, to me, like some of the philosophies that teach "mind over matter" and pain control.  They've simple invented a term for it that they can relate to.


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## bibliolept

As far as I know, "the hurt locker" is intended to indicate a serious degree of pain and injury. Being "put in the hurt locker" would mean being caused serious pain or injuries. An explosion would accomplish all that.


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## panjandrum

_The X locker is the place where we keep __the X.
The hurt locker_ is the place where we keep _the hurt_. As it is clear from the context that people go into the metaphorical hurt locker, _the hurt_ are the people who are hurt.

I thought I might as well have a guess too


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## HovercoverMarine

Where are all the "Old" Marine's?
Hurt locker is a term used in Basic Training!  When a young recruit was out of line, (back in the day when  physical contact was allowed) the Drill instructor literally slammed you into a full size locker where he would hit you repeatedly.  You couldn't get out or move to resist.  No longer allowed by the drill instructors and the other recruits, "Blanket parties" were started.  This was where fellow recruits would throw towels over you at night while asleep and hit you with fists, or laundry nets full of soap bars.
AHL
Major
USMC (ret)


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## Arrius

Thank you *Hardcovermarine* - I think we have at last got to the bottom of the matter now, although the phrase is used metaphorically in the present context. I hope by *the Drill instructor literally slammed you into a full size locker where he would hit you repeatedly, *that you mean he closed the door first, but I fear that probably he didn't. These procedures remind me of "Full Metal Jacket" in which such a martinet receives a bullet in the guts from the deranged recruit he has been bullying and causing to be bullied by his fellow-recruits.


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## librariannojiri

not sure when sarver suggests he coined the phrase:  it's been around for at least 10 years.  see urbandictionary dot com and onlineslangdictionary dot com for earlier entries...


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## Cagey

librariannojiri said:


> *N*ot sure when *S*arver suggests he coined the phrase:  it's been around for at least 10 years. *S*ee urbandictionary dot com and onlineslangdictionary dot com for earlier entries...


Some context to explain this reference to something that is currently in the news:

There is a movie titled "The Hurt Locker".  A soldier named Sarver says that the main character is based on him, and that he coined the phrase "the hurt locker".  He is suing the people who made the film on the grounds that he was not allowed to participate in making the film, nor to profit from it.  [Source: _abcNews_ has one of many stories on this.]


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## bibliolept

From the movie _Demolition Man_ (1993):


> I want to go down there, find Phoenix and put him in a hurt locker.


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## Copyright

HovercoverMarine said:


> Where are all the "Old" Marine's?



Sorry, sir... the gunny had us out on apostrophe removal duty. 



> Hurt locker is a term used in Basic Training!



Yes, I'm familiar with the term from boot camp, which makes it at least 45 years old.


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## karima19

A figurative place where someone is said to be or will be, if they are  getting or expect to be getting hurt or beaten.
as per urban dictionary... and as per military slang... and as per explanation given to crew members who worked on the film...


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## erickent

In the context of the film "Hurt Locker", the term hurt locker refers to the box of bomb components that the principal character keeps under his bed. The things that almost killed him.


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## Wishfull

erickent said:


> In the context of the film "Hurt Locker", the term hurt locker refers to the box of bomb components that the principal character keeps under his bed. The things that almost killed him.



Really? Thank you for the information.
Then my might-be-interesting-but-completely-absurd theory (#10) has not completely sunk down.

Is there any slight chance for my non-native's theory to reemerge?

Are there some kinds of absurd "word-play" in it?


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## Novanas

Unless I'm very much mistaken, this expression "the hurt locker" dates back at least to the Vietnam war.  James Webb, a Vietnam veteran, wrote a novel based on his experiences in the war ("Fields of Fire") and I'm sure he used the expression.  Admittedly, it's been many years since I read the book, but if he didn't use the term, my memory is playing some very bad tricks on me.


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## giovannino

Seneca the Duck said:


> Unless I'm very much mistaken, this expression "the hurt locker" dates back at least to the Vietnam war. James Webb, a Vietnam veteran, wrote a novel based on his experiences in the war ("Fields of Fire") and I'm sure he used the expression. Admittedly, it's been many years since I read the book, but if he didn't use the term, my memory is playing some very bad tricks on me.


 
Your memory isn't playing any tricks on you I looked the phrase up in the _Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang. _Two of the examples are from _Fields of Fire:_

*in the hurt bag *[or *locker *or *seat*] in trouble or at a disadvantage; in bad shape; hurting
1978 J. Webb _Fields of Fire 2 _[ref. to Vietnam War, 1969]:
_Ahhh, Lieutenant...More gooners than I ever seen. We would really be in the hurt locker tonight_
_Don't let it get to you, Lieutenant. If you start crying, we're in the hurt locker_


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## Oler B

While it may be a military expression (I don't know), it has meaning in the movie. The main character has a small box or locker where he keeps pieces of all the bombs that almost killed him. It's also where he keeps a picture of his son.  It is where he stores all the things that can hurt him.


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## JulianStuart

Oler B said:


> While it may be a military expression (I don't know), it has meaning in the movie. The main character has a small box or locker where he keeps pieces of all the bombs that almost killed him. It's also where he keeps a picture of his son.  It is where he stores all the things that can hurt him.


The movie does not tell us that - it's a nice guess.  However, the interview (linked above) with the_ director _is probably more reliable where she says it "literally translates to a place of ultimate pain".  As in "If this bomb goes off, we're gonna be in the hurt locker".


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## fantom

Ok, I see the references to Vietnam-era meanings (boot camp) and to James Webb's novel (great catch).  Does the phrase go back further in military slang?  Thanks!


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## Copyright

It would seem to have originated in Vietnam. The Visual Thesaurus has a nice article about it, including a supporting link to the Google New Archive. One thing we can be sure of is that Master Sgt. Jeffrey Sarver didn't coin the phrase as he claims in a lawsuit against the makers of the film. James Webb's _Fields of Fire _is not a novel, by the way, but a book on his experiences...and a truly excellent one.


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## pbarnes41

Hurt Locker came about from basic training. Some recruits had a hard time learning to take orders without always asking why. It is important that recruits follow without question. The hard headed recruit would be placed into a locker and told to stand perfectly still and to not touch the sides of the locker. The locker would then be hung up from rope, a small fire would be set under the locker causing it to be very warm inside. As long as the recruit followed the order of "Do not touch the sides." his boots would protect him, but the recruit who has to question everything touches the side when he feels the heat. He gets burned and starts the locker swinging which makes him touch other sides and he gets more burns thus hopefully learning the leason of follow the order, no matter what. That is a "Hurt Locker".


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## Starfrown

Wishfull said:


> Are there some kinds of absurd "word-play" in it?


It is quite possible that the title is a _double entendre_, as Oler B suggested above.  Many movie titles are.


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## Copyright

pbarnes41 said:


> Hurt Locker came about from basic training. Some recruits had a hard time learning to take orders without always asking why. It is important that recruits follow without question. The hard headed recruit would be placed into a locker and told to stand perfectly still and to not touch the sides of the locker. The locker would then be hung up from rope, a small fire would be set under the locker causing it to be very warm inside. As long as the recruit followed the order of "Do not touch the sides." his boots would protect him, but the recruit who has to question everything touches the side when he feels the heat. He gets burned and starts the locker swinging which makes him touch other sides and he gets more burns thus hopefully learning the leason of follow the order, no matter what. That is a "Hurt Locker".



What branch of whose military? And when? 

While this makes an interesting story, I find it hard to believe that the drill instructors would go to so much trouble -- _what? only one guy was a problem?  I doubt it, so I can see a whole line of marshmallows roasting on an open fire _-- and risk causing severe, escalating and illegal injury to a recruit to teach him a lesson that _every_ member of my new platoon learned in the first ten seconds of military life without the need for rope, locker, kindling and a Zippo.

The "ten seconds" is not hyperbole -- I remember those seconds well and I've forgotten many  things.

Besides, if it were true, any bright recruit would have that locker swinging almost  immediately to keep it away from the fire.


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## erkur

Copyright said:


> Besides, if it were true, any bright recruit would have that locker swinging almost  immediately to keep it away from the fire.


  Nice one


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## neveragain

I don't know, I am not a military man. 
But to me, after seeing the movie, the literal meaning of "Hurt Locker" seems to me to be the place that he has become accustomed and, sadly stimulated to being in  - that being the "most dangerous" place of his existence so far in the world. That exciting, "I'm changing the world" place. The place of your possible sacrifice to not only your beliefs but all that you know, in exchange for something better, if you make that final payment of your life to your cause. 
See the "Sons of Scotland" speech from "Braveheart" for a better way to describe this sacrifice, even if it pertains to a very different time and conflict. 
Back to Iraq...
To me, because the main character has walked in and out of the "Hurt Locker" many times, and survived, he has become a junky to the feeling that you, me , anyone would get, walking up to and diffusing a bomb (in a perfectly literal sense to this story).
He went back home to the serene and safe, yet.. boring? ...uninspiring and un-world changing normalcy and like so many veterans, deeply missed  being in the "Hurt Locker" and the fact that he could no longer "change the world" anymore.


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## wvmoine

In the 1993 movie, Demolition Man, Sly Stallone said that he would put a guy in the hurt locker.


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## almostfreebird

wvmoine said:


> In the 1993 movie, Demolition Man, Sly Stallone said that he would put a guy in the hurt locker.



I  read Tiger! Tiger!(by Alfred Bester who is also the author of The Demolished Man) long time ago. 

In "Tiger! Tiger!", the protagonist had been left alone in　cosmic space surviving inside the small locker floating around void of space.

I imagine that it is an ultimate pain and fear.


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## westpalm

Army people always come up with funny names for everything so I thought Hurt Locker was an army expression that meant "place where you might get hurt". So when these guys, who deal with bomb disposal on a daily basis are sent to Iraq they are prone to get hurt because of the job they do.


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## wandle

Copyright said:


> Besides, if it were true, any bright recruit would have that locker swinging almost immediately to keep it away from the fire.





erkur said:


> Nice one


I cannot see that working. However energetically you swing, each swing will centre over the fire. You will thus repeatedly cross that point, which will therefore become the dominant part of your experience (like the star pattern used in radiation therapy, which centres rays on the tumour from different directions).

The locker will steadily heat up and in addition your strength and your ability to keep away from the fire will steadily decline.
The torture will be longer, but not less severe.

For the literal meaning of the expression, the only explanation which seems convincing to me (never having met it before) is that of *HardcoverMarine*.
Without that explanation, I would have understood it as *Cagey* did.

For the metaphorical meaning of 'in the hurt locker', I would suggest as a paraphrase 'in the torture chamber'.


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