OK, I just got a whole post accidentally deleted, which is dispiriting at the best of times. I’ll provide a concise review of my far superior lost post.
My assumption above was incorrect. But also, I think, was yours, iBump. When writing my previous post, I did have a vague recollection of the escalator being an American invention. But I incorrectly forgot there were two similar terms and said, erroneously, that elevator was the term for a moving staircase, and ‘lift’ for what you call an elevator. This was entirely incorrect, and I apologise.
But in the post I was responding to, the assumption seemed to be that the Brits use a different, and wrong, term for an elevator, which, as you correctly point out, is an American invention and was originally called an escelator.
But actually, in terms of real terminology, there is absolutely no difference between the terms used in the UK and the US regarding these two items. We both use ‘escalator’ for a magical staircase, and ‘elevator’ for the box that goes up and down. The only difference is that we have a slang word for an elevator, and call it a ‘lift’. This word doesn’t replace ‘elevator’, merely compliments is. We simply use both terms, except one is colloquial. This is similar to the terms ‘Soccer’ and ‘Football’, both of which are valid words, in the UK, to describe our national sport. Football is simply the official name (Well, stricly speaking, one of the official names, as the full name is ‘Association Football’), and ‘Soccer’ is the slang term for that same sport.
So you haven’t actually pointed out any issues with my linguistic viewpoint, iBump. Perhaps that wasn’t your intention, and I misread your earlier post, or you have other points to make, in which case feel free.