Regional Indicator Emojis changing into Flag Emojis

I've noticed that there's some feature where placing regional indicator letter emojis next to each other will replace them with the flag emoji of that letter sequence. For example typing ":regional_indicator_c::regional_indicator_o:" would be sent as ":flag_co:", which isn't what I wanted to send.

Normally, it wouldn't be a problem, since when you use the autocomplete function in the textbox, it automatically leaves a space after the emoji. But if you use the shift-click shortcut in the emoji menu, it doesn't leave a space after each emoji, allowing the flag emoji to replace your letter emojis.

If nothing else, I think there should be a way to disable the auto-replace feature, like how you can disable the emoticon-to-emoji feature. Truthfully, I would rather this function be removed entirely, maybe being replaced by typing ":co:" and having ":flag_co:" replace it.

Again, I understand that this is avoidable by placing a space between the emojis, but you can't use spaces when shift-clicking in the emoji menu.