Derelictometer: Veteran victims of Neighbors From Hell and Entities From Hell develop an unwanted talent of spotting derelicts. For instance, living near a nuisance bar, a homeowner can often tell when someone looking for a place to urinate is approaching, based on his shuffle and attempt to casually look around for a sufficiently secluded spot to unzip. Also, when new people are moving in, a neighbor watching them unload notices a number of things from the items being moved in to the general appearance of the new neighbors; if they seem to possess few furnishings but lots of stereo equipment, trouble lies ahead.
Good-Neighbor Underclass: An underclass is a group of people it's okay to belittle, look down upon and mistreat. Many former underclasses evolve into protected classes — people who can never be criticized, even legitimately, for doing so would imperil the critic. Good neighbors, who once dominated most groupings of homes known as communities, and who once possessed a good deal of cultural clout, are forming an underclass. This is demonstrated by a number of factors, including belittling by media messages and mistreatment by police, authorities and officials of anyone not in favor of, say, a neighbor's loud music.
Hippie-Wannabes: A younger generation of people today wishes to have been alive during the Age of Aquarius, its being so romanticized for fighting capitalism and war. They look and talk the part, but generally don't understand politics and economics because of slackened standards in school. They get their news from Comedy Central. But, give them a machine against which to rage and they'll go nuts.
Neighbor Stupidity Curve: In early attempts at diplomatic resolution of a problem caused by a neighbor who's being loud, trespassing or committing some other act that offends or disrupts, we apply this curve to give him or her the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he didn't realize that we can hear his acid rock at 3 a.m., blasting from a thin floor away; perhaps she wasn't aware that the plain-wood flower box on a wall separating our courtyards was mine long before she moved in, and that I don't want it painted a nauseating teal color. Applying the curve helps us in being pleasant with people who are outraging us with their behavior. It gets dropped immediately once the response to our diplomacy is hostile.
Noise Culture: Beyond the noise itself is a social movement that compounds the original problem - how more and more loud neighbors are coming to respond to complainants. They've developed a self-confidence unlike in the past, truly believing their way is the right way and that those who object are wrong and should be mistreated. This can be attributed to anti-neighbor influences flowing through our chief communications systems, influences that birth and rear noise culture. The entertainment industry and its marketing machinery increasingly present the noisy as part of a superior culture, one that's fun and funny and full of sexy people. Those who don't want to be disturbed are belittled in countless examples of noise culture media boosterism. This is the chosen method for reaching a target audience of younger people, but advertisers and show producers easily influence youthful society while supposedly reflecting its sensibilities in order to sell it stuff.
Noise Culture Boosterism: Anti-neighbor media messages are helping to form what the author calls a "good-neighbor underclass" in America and beyond. Read More 
Nouveaux Trashe: French for New Trash, the term is the author's take on people who weren't born trashy (just as the nouveaux riche were not born rich), but came to embrace trashy behavior based on its popularization by the media and its subsequent spread across society. This term is more suitable than White Trash since the decision to go trashy is an equal-opportunity election. Young, old, rich, poor - any people from any race are welcome to join. Imagine a purebred cat in a comfortable family home that goes outside to hang out in an alley and emulate the behavior of the alley cats and strays. That's the embrace of trash culture, and it symbolizes a general attitude of un-neighborliness.
Personality Type "NFH": Everyone's heard of Type "A" and Type "B" personalities - the author introduces Type "NFH" to develop an understanding of what makes Neighbors From Hell tick. Certainly, everyone's an individual, but Type "NFH" personalities share highly antisocial and often dangerous qualities, aimed more at those living around them than at the rest of the world. In fact, their behavior outside their homes and neighborhoods is inconsistent with the ill manners and strange affectations we come to know them for. Some are careful drivers, some are dedicated office workers. Awareness of this inconsistency is actually disturbing - wherever we go, we could easily be standing behind, driving alongside, or working for someone's Neighbor From Hell.
Venus Neighbor Trap: The plant of fantasy for NFH victims everywhere, it can be purchased at your local home gardening center for $39.95 and used to hedge yard boundaries, quickly devouring neighbors and others who trespass onto our property. In an age of cloning and plant irradiation, there's no reason we can't have this.
