> simultaneously, petulantly perhaps, spelling the units differently

Utter nonsense.

The majority of native English speakers are American. Does that mean Brits, Australians, etc. are being “petulant” by spelling various words differently from Americans? Of course not. That’s just not how language evolution and standardization works.

By the way, nobody had to decide that “meter” specifically should be spelled that way. It follows the normal American spelling pattern in which all words ending in the consonant cluster /tr/ are spelled with “-ter”. Commonwealth English is actually more inconsistent as it sometimes renders the French “-tre” as “-tre” (metre, centre, theatre) and sometimes as “-ter” (master, plaster).

Please don't pretend any kind of consistency with any form of the English language.

The point is that master and plaster aren't French.

They’re cognate to the French words maître and plâtre.

To keep discussion civil even with trolls creating new accounts just to post - what a bunch of nonsense sparkled with needless insults. You can do better than that.