I think Dglenn is thinking of the stepping disks that were on the puppeteers planet. They were teleporters that appeared in each street intersection, and they were set up so you'd teleport from one block to the next then walk a few steps into the next teleport (or not) going whichever direction you wanted to go. Sorta like having seven league boots. :)
No, no, stepping disks would be way cool but aren't at all slide-y. I was talking about the real-world devices that I've seen in airports and at least one museum and which starandrea had been talking about. I just misremembered where I'd first read the word.
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I think, like "answerphone" and "cashpoint," "slidewalk" is fairly obvious after a while.
Not hugely friendly to somewhat hearing impaired people, perhaps.