Bahadur...........Actually, titles have al;ways bothered me as well. In TKD titles are used......everything from assistant junior instructors to instructor, chief instructor, master instructor, master, junior grandmaster and Grand master.........basically the only things I see that differentiates (sp) the ranks is how many stripes are on their belts. I am a 4th degree blackbelt, and as such (according to Korean ettiquitte (sp))...I am to be called "master" by my students......Other than when bowing in and out of class, or when I first enter the do jang, no one refers to me as such, they only do then in Korean.
I know a 7th dan blackbelt (which technically is supposed to be a junior grandmaster) who absolutely insists that he be called Grandmaster and not simply Master.
I know a man in Chicago who is highly thought of in his homeland of korea and is a ninth Dan blackbelt. Most of us call him "Master" and not Grandmaster. He never rebuffs anyone for it.
While The rankings are supposed to be both to recognize the accomplishments of the seniors as well as for the juniors to show respect and understanding of their own place in the arts, I feel that it no longer does this. Instead I have seen too many people who place more value on the title than they do the expertise of the rank holder.
I have heard of an "honorable 10th Dan being awarded to great martial artists, long deceased, but I was reading somewhere (was it Blackbelt magazine?) that carried a piece about a 9th degree blackbelt being awarded the "10 degree" blackbelt.....the piece did not give his age but he looked no older than maybe......65???......and ALIVE!.......