In HK, addressing people with the first syllable of their title is not sth new. In a newspaper office, a chief editor is often addressed by the junior editors as 老總. In the government offices, a chief executive officer (總行政主任) is also addressed by his/her subordinates as 老總. But we usually don’t add the surname before 總.
An interesting case concerns the title of TVB artiste Lisa Wang (汪明荃). She is occasionally addressed in newspaper writings as 汪人代, with 人代 being the abbreviation of "member of the National People's Congress".
I recall that in the 1960s and 70s, Shaw Brothers’ 張徹 and 李瀚祥 were the two most renowned movie directors of the time. They were addressed as 張大導 and 李大導 respectively by the newspapers. So here are the surname plus the first syllable of the title, with the twist that 大 (great) is infixed between them.
In passing, I like to mention that 陳生, 黃生, etc are also a sort of title abbreviation although 先生 is not exactly a title in the sense of post or rank.
An interesting case concerns the title of TVB artiste Lisa Wang (汪明荃). She is occasionally addressed in newspaper writings as 汪人代, with 人代 being the abbreviation of "member of the National People's Congress".
I recall that in the 1960s and 70s, Shaw Brothers’ 張徹 and 李瀚祥 were the two most renowned movie directors of the time. They were addressed as 張大導 and 李大導 respectively by the newspapers. So here are the surname plus the first syllable of the title, with the twist that 大 (great) is infixed between them.
In passing, I like to mention that 陳生, 黃生, etc are also a sort of title abbreviation although 先生 is not exactly a title in the sense of post or rank.