I think if we can 'bird' (which I think we should be able to, if for no other reason than it sounds indefinably cooler than the 'birdwatching' I used to do as a youth)...then we ought to be able to 'bring' or 'take' along a friend when we do so in an interchangeable manner.
Although I have my pet hate Atlanticisms ('combo' being pretty close to top of the list), I don't support the recurring narrative expressed on BF that the English language (as written / spoken by the English) is either intrinsically superior to, or under threat from, American cultural imperialism. It is an unfortunate characteristic of the English to assume that their version of the language is the only 'correct' one. American English contains many words and spellings which can claim at least as old a provenance as those currently used in UK - 'sidewalk', 'turnpike', 'gray' etc. It seems a little churlish to focus on the neologisms - the combos and the 'actioning', especially when we are equally enthusiastic adopters on this side of the pond.
I think in doing so we overlook a greater threat to cultural and linguistic diversity on our own doorstep, which is the loss of regional accents and vocabulary within the UK, promoted by the pervasiveness of domestic media and its 'estuarine' southern English accents. I want to continue to get a 'spelk' in my finger (well, I don't really, they can be quite painful...), and describe something as 'femer' rather than fragile.