Well here is what the hotkey editor looks like for me. I remember in prev. versions that there were check boxes for the modifiers like CTRL, ALT, SHIFT, etc. Notice how the "edit" button is grayed out. It doesn't matter which function in any menu I choose, the button remains grayed out.
This is just a question to make sure I'm not losing my mind. I noticed this in Maya2008, and it still happens in 2009, only worse. Sometimes I'll be working on a component of a model, and when I switch to another component or object mode, it stays selected. The only thing is that it isn't really selected, it just just…