Gernot, Rites are manners within a culture. And universal manners should involve learning the rites of one's host and observing them (although I'm not sure I'd go along with that if my host were a cannibal - there are limits).
My late father was a life long physicist at Bell Labs (and claims the idea for the principle of the transistor despite Shockley's Nobel). When he retired he went to The Rockefeller Institute (now University) as a guest investigator. He was quite concerned that they addressed him as Dr., as he didn't have his PhD - he was afraid they'd find him a fraud. I pointed out that they knew perfectly well that he didn't have the formal doctorate, but that the were using the title as an honorific because of his knowledge and position. As to the American spelling of Habsburg, we have the tendency to modify foreign spellings to fit the perceived sound. The English may colour their language, we color it. But I won't belabour (belabor) that point. Best, Jon
