How does the author use "jargon" in the novel, When Women Were Dragons?

The author has created a lot of jargon specific to the events of this novel. The word “state” is used in connection to whether a woman is in human form or dragon form. Families with both women and dragons are declared “mixed state.” Another example of this jargon is that the word “dragon” is adapted to be used as a verb. In the opening, the author presents a letter from a woman who is one of many “confirmed cases of spontaneous dragoning” (3). The word “dragoning” is a shortened way to say that she was changing into a dragon. The word “dragons” would typically refer to multiple dragons, but in this novel, it also sometimes refers to someone who changes into a dragon. The word “dragony” is also an accepted way of describing how the women in specific moments. Alex notes that Beatrice's eyes become “dragony” when she is emotional. The word “girl” is used in similar ways. Alex and Marla discuss what will happen if Beatrice “dragons and can't re-girl” (316). This just means that she might become a dragon without the ability to change back into a girl. The reader should quickly grasp this concept so that it is fairly easy to understand the meaning.