I have an acquaintance (friend-of-a-friend-see-each-other-at-bars-type) that always calls me a “laireken.” When I ask him what that means he just laughs.
Dictionary.com is not helpful, and I’ve tried as many variations on the spelling as I can think of. (No, Google, I did not mean “Lauren”).
Does anyone know what this means? A book or movie reference perhaps?
Try “larrikin”. It’s Australian slang, and is defined in the AHD as “A person given to comical or outlandish behavior.”
C’mon, yabob. Be honest … it really means “back end of horse”, doesn’t it?
You may find a more extensive treatment here:
http://www.anu.edu.au/andc/ozwords/June_98/5._larrikin.htm
Take it as a complement.
bordelond, whose post crossed mine, seems to be defining it by example rather than pedantry.
Here’s an article from *The Age * (Melbourne newspaper) from a couple of years ago, describing a politician, Mark Latham. It may help to give you a flavour of the term larrikin.
Yeah, I got the reference. If I were given to using smilies I would stuck one on my reply as well.
Guess I didn’t try all the spellings. :smack: Dictionary.com defines it as “Hoodlum; Rowdy.”
Thanks for the replies - I’ll treat it as a compliment…I guess. 
He is Australian, although for some reason it never even entered my mind that the term was a colloquialism.
Is there a similar Australian term I can throw back at him? Something like “I’d expect that coming from you, you _____.”
[hijack]
Sometimes I feel smilies cheapen an online joke. Not always, but sometimes.
[/hijack]
“I’d expect that coming from a yabbo like you.”
akkk… Make that “yobbo”
“Yobbo.”
[Count Rugen]
“I swear it will be done.”
[/Count Rugen]
The closer you are to him the more virulent the term can be … drongo, berk, dropkick; with the ultimate probably being bastard.
You could try wanker, tosser or numbnuts if you want an insult. But when he’s calling you a larrikin, it’s not really an insult at all - like Cunctator mentioned, the term barely has a negative meaning nowadays. At worst, it means something like “maverick”, but it usually means something between “cheeky” and “vivacious”.
Calling someone a bastard is verboten. But strangely calling someone a [insert adjective here] bastard is usually OK.
“Rack off, ya bastard” to a friend who’d just done something to you would be offensive.
“Rack off, ya silly bastard” would be taken as a joke.
No, I have no explanation.
Of the suggestions so far, only drongo has the same uniquely Australian flavour as larrikin (to my English ears, at least).
Try calling him a dag. He’ll love it