Cross-Walk(even Pedestrian) is a better term than Zebra-Crossing; for kids though, Zebra helps.
Edit: English were in world over making colonies across Afro-Asian countries.
https://www.thehindu.com/in-school/sh-science/The-zebra-in-o...
Has anyone seen a Zebra cross a zebra-crossing? Only happens in England.
They used zebra crossing (even though there are no Zebras in the UK either, I think), so we used it. Now the new argument is that the cultural imperialism of the US is forcing us to change the term again. Sure, the term "cross-walk" sort of makes more sense than zebra crossing, but not enough that you don't need it defined for you the first time you encounter it. So, it is not such a precise and great term, as you almost say, that one can ignore the cultural imperialism argument.
Both arguments (colonialism and cultural imperialism) are distinct and can be treated separately.
As for cross-walk making more sense; Zebra crossing are so named because of the black and white stripes they comprise of, they require you to have seen one, yes, but, I'd argue that without context "cross-walk" is no more descriptive.
Collectively, we call our crossings (Toucan, Pelican, Zebra, Pegasus), "road crossings". They are so named due to their properties; Toucan because "two (types of user) can" cross there, Pelican (formerly pelicon) because it stands for PEdestrian LIght C[O]Ntrolled crossing), Zebra for its stripes, and Pegasus due to the buttons being accessible at heights suitable for those riding horses.
Pier is a more familiar term to me. I think I've only heard the term boardwalk in relation to some place in New Jersey.