> Of course you can. It’s «ESC .» or «^[.»

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that. However it's a different hotkey and only pulls the last parameter. The shell I use, you could hit <alt>+<number> and you would get a parameter of that number completed - not just the last parameter. It was very handy for rebuilding long command lines with different arguments.

> Or you can check “Profiles → Keyboard → Use Option as Meta” for Terminal.app [or just press ⌥⌘O]. And then use option as meta.

I use iTerm2 - which does seem to have similar options but I'm yet to get it working. I know that's down to user error but it's still a real pity that it isn't just the default behaviour (in either iTerm or Terminal).

ctrl-meta-y (readline’s yank-nth-arg) pulls any argument.