Interesting, Percy. It may explain why Michael Schumacher (who usually knows his stuff) always gets the third conditional wrong in interviews...

Perhaps there is no real blurring of meaning, and that that is why these two verbs have become interchangeable for some. In the example in the first post (Can I take/bring you home?), the meaning is clear, and if she says no it's probably not because of his grammar.

So what comes after these verbs helps to clarify the meaning while at the same time makeing the choice of verb less vital to the meaning. What does that learn us, then?

I had to change my name to get this comment in.

"English (other than American English) has a clear differentiation between the two words."

Ahem, there is a tendency for British English speakers to sound quite condescending in their "correction" of American English. The blurring of meaning in these two words also occurs closer to home. In Ireland, the two verbs are almost interchangeable, as in the US. So I would say it's not really that people are confused, but rather that there are different rules in different places.