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You bring something toward the initial point, you take something away from it. That should be easy enough. But it isn't.
Do you bring your car to the shop, or do you take it? I take it. But up here in Yankeeland, I hear "bring" much more often than "take." Any takers?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Do you bring your lunch to work or do you take it to work?
And if you take the bus, then what?
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I can't explain it, but I am getting a sense of tenses with the usage of these words. Bring has a ring of the 'future' in it whilst take has a feel of the 'past'. Take also might be used in the narrative sense; as in, if i am reciting the day's routine to a friend, I'd say I take my lunch with me. I'd still use 'along' after take, I think. Have I made any sense or sparked a thought?
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Carpal Tunnel
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sparked a thought
Now that you mention it, I get a stronger feeling of destination with bring than I do origin with take. That is, take seems to be more concentrated on the journey.
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Carpal Tunnel
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To take something has idea of grasping, seizing.
Bring has idea of carrying. I used to take my car and bring it to the garage.
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Pretty nice distinction, Faldage. It does seem to be so, doesn't it? Now, I am thinking, that there is a sense of active/passive here. Bring seems more active and take, passive. Too much cogitation is a bad thing, eh?  Like someone said, "Given time, grass will turn into milk". Or something, to the effect (scratching head-e )
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Carpal Tunnel
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nice distinction
In all senses of the word. Yet what Dr Bill says is equally sooth. There is the sense of acquisition in take that is missing in bring.
Perhaps we should examine cses where one will work and the other won't.
I'll take what I want.
Bring me the book.
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Well, yes, there is a sense of acquisition with take, but, not, (I think) in the usage, where the confusion with bring is. - Can I take you to the movies? - Can I bring you some aspirin? - Take two aspirins and call me in the morning. - Bring your old records to your next appointment. What's the protocol for editing? Must all idiocies be admitted to? 
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If I am invited to dinner at your home I might take you a bottle of wine. You might be happy that I brought it. So far, so good. But then we use take in various idiomatic ways that muddy the distinction: take a walk, take a pill, take a breath, etc. I can't, at the moment, think of any bring idioms. To bring something up for a vote isn't really idiomatic, is it?
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I started out asuming that there *must be a difference. The more I think about it, the more my prejudice seems to fade. Take and bring can be used interchangeably, in the senses mentioned above - carry, convey, transport. To my mind, 'along', however, still seems a necessary add-on to 'take' in this context.....
take along = bring
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