Question

Identify the use of jargon in the excerpt by sorting the words into the appropriate category.

She opened the
far door
and went through to the
hot side
. Then she reached back inside the
air lock
and pulled the chain in the chemical
shower
. That started a
decon cycle
running in the air lock that would
eliminate
any hot agents that might have leaked into the air lock as they were going through.

–The Hot Zone,
Richard Preston

Not Jargon

Jargon

Answer 1

Jargon
- hot side — technical term in containment work meaning the contaminated side of a room or facility.
- air lock — specialized term for a controlled-entry chamber that separates different environments (contamination/pressure control).
- chemical shower — emergency decontamination equipment; a lab/industrial safety term.
- decon cycle — abbreviation/jargon for a decontamination cycle or process.
- hot agents — specialized phrase meaning contaminated/biological/chemical hazardous agents.

Not Jargon
- far door — ordinary descriptive phrase.
- chain — common noun (here a literal object, not a technical term).
- eliminate — common verb (used in both everyday and technical contexts, but not jargon here).