Sometimes the US words Flummox me

[horseless carriage]

There we go...someone with a bit of education. Many words in English originate in French, which explains the spellings....such as theatre, centre, etc.
It is important for British people to keep using the British version of English. One of the negative effects of the internet is the confusion of American and British English.

That, I am sure, will happen, but with modern communication, together with easy travel, English will not morph into English based languages the way that Latin became Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Catalan and others, after the decline of The Roman Empire.