orientate/orient ..However, no-one from the British side of the pond has piped up

Wideyed has responded already but I will add my 2 new pennyworth.* I dislike "orientate", and try to use "orient" myself, though I rarely hear it used by others.
I have not noticed the conceptual/literal distinction myself.

Rod

** My pet peeve is the use of the word "P" or "Pee" for penny/pence in UK currency, which jars on my ears. This came about after the decimalisation in 1971(?) when we had Old pennies/pence shown as "d." and New pennies shown as "p." At the time it was necessary to distinguish but I would much prefer people reverted to using pence. I have a one man campaign going but without much success.