My nephew said a Hong Kong friend of his described her husband as “fat”, which is 肥 féi in Chinese, but she texted the character 肥 as 月巴 (breaking up the two components of the one character to form two separate characters).
This reminds me of the time when an RI (Raffles Institution) friend’s wife came to London with her then-five-year-old daughter Yen Hua, and stayed with me.
The mother would spell out words that she didn’t want Yen Hua to know, so she’d say things like, “She said he’s such an s-h-i-t.” Yen Hua, however, knew more words than her mother realised, so she’d shout them out, e.g., “Shit!”
The mother had to abandon this mode of “coded talk”.
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