One's own experience always feels like the "normal" one. To me a chairman or committee deciding on which word to use seems odd and artificial. Although when you look at English the idea of having one person to blame for the muddle (though, cough, through anyone) is attractive.
There are a series of videos, possibly from the BBC, called "The story of English" which are very good. They show the origins of the language as well as regional differences in word use and accent. They even subtitle the accents.