Incidentally, I’m trying to propagate this term as gently-pejorative slang for a Canadian. It was invented by an Irish friend of mine, and I haven’t used it for a while. When you go abroad, or meet foreigners here, encourage them to refer to you as a moose tickler. The image it generates in my head makes me laugh–as if it were some bizarre national sport, like cow-tipping.
I also welcome any grammarians’ opinions on whether it should be one word or two.
As moose and tickling are things which should be kept separate, I think the words should be kept that way as well. Two words.
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If it’s of Irish origin, then it can most definitely be one word… The irish (well, any of an anglo-saxon origin) are very keen on mashing words together. James Joyce made a career out of it.
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The english language is meant to be fluid, if you’re inventing a new word/phrase/label/whatever then it’s grammatically fine to create it as either one word or two.
I personally prefer two however.
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I would go with two words as well. I detest the new trend towards coining new words by squishing two previously independent words together. I applaud BC Hydro’s official style sheet, which states unequivocally that “Power Smart” is and always will be two words with a non-breaking space between them.
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Two comments I’d have:
Firstly, Moose Tickling is defintely two words
Secondly, without becoming nationalistic or anything I must point out that Ireland is not in fact “Anglo-Saxon”.
Along with Wales and Scotland, Ireland is originally a Celtic breed. The Saxons weren’t great swimmers and didn’t make it across the water till much later :-)
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