3 ms·

I’m a little bit confused at the assertion that “cart” and “cat” are phonetically similar enough to need an extra letter. They’re completely different sounds to

• PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  I suggest you read it again. That is not the assertion at all: > Consider the r in cart for instance. Without that r the word would clash with an existing word - cat, so the letter is significant in establishing meaning. The u in color is not, however. The point is that what we call a "cart" and a "cat" are different things, and that the additional letter "r" helps us differntiate these two things, because we get two different words (rather than, say, calling both things "cat" or "cart"). By contrast, there is nothing called "color" in British English, so dropping the "u" from "color" creates no ambiguity in meaning.