Casey, thanks for pointing out about the "puzzle" (why sian1-si*1 not sian1-sing1). I don't know why and didn't even notice it before!
Sian1-si*1 先生 in my dialect firstly means teacher, then also mister, doctor and a polite term for husband. Sian0 (light tone) 先 is the abbreviation for sian1-si*1 and used after surname for teacher (including female teacher) & mister.
Hong, thanks for reminding me about the usage of ko`1-niu5 姑娘 to mean Catholic nun. We also used to call nurses ko`1-niu5, may be due to a lot of nurses in my hometown were nuns (and many Catholic priests were also doctors).
Hello Sir, Hello Ma'am...
On the subject of the multiple pronunciations for 先, I also notice the same phenomenon for the word 兩. If I am not mistaken, the wendu for it is 'liong'. The baidu for it in counting is nng/nO (depending on Chiang/Chuan/Xia/etc). And yet another baidu for it which I have heard is for the weight measurement unit 'niao' (16 兩 = 1斤). I have heard the saying 半斤八兩 pronounced in Penang Hokkien as "pua kin pe niao".
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hong