Is Courtesy Outdated?

I recently gave a graduate class presentation on the Roman concept of decorum-- one of the concepts that I believe contributed to the eventual concept of courtesy.  As part of my discussion, I listed the many synonyms that decorum has (some of which are listed on the previous blog entry).  My professor posed the question of what our modern term for decorum would be: most of the synonyms for decorum sound quite old-fashioned.
While I tend to drop some archaic-sounding language into everyday speech-- thrice, whilst, befits, passers-by, etc-- it is uncommon to overhear shoppers or restaurant-goers discussing propriety, bearing, comportment, or etiquette (though one may perhaps overhear a conversation about "netiquette").  While I won't go so far as to say that courtesy doesn't exist in a contemporary context, I will argue that the terms associated with the idea seem outdated.  
Does courtesy have a place in our society beyond how to address a wedding invitation or when it's acceptable to wear white shoes?  When I hear the term "etiquette," I hear my mother's warnings against wearing white after labor day or black shoes in the daytime after Easter.  These things seem silly to me, and I think that true etiquette should be something more meaningful.  Perhaps its more meaningful form comes from a phrase that we do hear more frequently, and one which I will be exploring more fully in my next post: common courtesy.

Definitions

Since all knowledge essentially begins with definition, that is where this blog will start. The following definitions are directly related to my conception of courtesy. (All of the following definitions are taken from the Oxford English Dictionary.) I am beginning with the OED but will be supplementing, complementing, and amending these definitions to my own purposes as my studies and intellectual pursuits progress.

Courtesy:
1.a: Courteous behaviour; courtly elegance and politeness of manners; graceful politeness or considerateness in intercourse with others.
2.a:Courteous disposition; courteousness; also nobleness, generosity, benevolence, goodness

Etiquette
1.c: The conventional rules of personal behaviour observed in the intercourse of polite society; the ceremonial observances prescribed by such rules.

Manners:
3.a: Customary mode of acting or behaviour; habitual practice; usage, custom, fashion.

Decorum:
1.a: That which is proper, suitable, seemly, befitting, becoming; fitness, propriety, congruity.
1.b: That which is proper to the character, position, rank, or dignity of a real person.
1.c: That which is proper to the circumstances or requirements of the case: seemliness, propriety, fitness.

Aptness:
1.a: Fitness for a purpose; suitableness, appropriateness.

Comportment:
1.a:Personal bearing, carriage, demeanour, deportment; behaviour, outward conduct, course of action.

Deportment:
1.a:Manner of conducting oneself; conduct (of life); behaviour.

Bearing:
2.a: The carrying of oneself (with reference to the manner); carriage, deportment; behaviour, demeanour.

Demeanor:
1.a: Conduct, way of acting, mode of proceeding (in an affair); conduct of life, manner of living; practice, behaviour.

Courtliness:
The quality of being courtly; courtly civility or ‘grace of mien’; courtly elegance of manners.

Conduct:
6.a: The action or manner of conducting, directing, managing, or carrying on (any business, performance, process, course, etc.); direction, management.