Colour/color; Path/sidewalk..

[RealityChuck]

@Dinnerz

If “tongue” indeed was spelt “tung”, then at the very least it would end the pronunciation feud.:smack:
Now the -our to -or changes make sense, but is there any basis to the -re to -er? Or is that purely to do with phonetics?

Probably because -er was more common, so it made sense to be consistent.

[guizot]

@Bytegeist

But, he happened to come along when the United States was a new country, when universal education was taking off, and when Americans were eager to distinguish themselves from Britain.

Also the US was becoming an economic force until itself, in a way that, say, Australia and Canada weren’t.