I think a big part of the thinking about using 110 vs 220 was simply the way electricity, particularly AC was portrayed when they were selling the first grid, a killer. Thank old Tom Edison for that one.
If 110 was a killer, imagine what he would have said about 220.
By the time Europe was deciding on a standard, most of that was debunked.
That was interesting about the blue/brown thing tho although if they were making the ground/earth a green yellow striped conductor, it sort of makes the red/green color blind thing moot.
