Don't get me started on the fact that the button is sometime use and sometimes delete forever.

+1

What's with all the inconsistent delete button labeling?

If it is weapons or armor it is called dismantle.
For ship it says scrap
For sparrow and emblem stuff or materials it is discard
Shaders say delete
Emotes say stow.

Don't get me started on the fact that the button is sometime use and sometimes delete forever.

Once, I sat there in my Inventory screen unable to activate one of my consumables. Everything looked fine, but no matter how many times I pressed X like it asked me to, I only got the "failure bleep" that said I couldn't use the item. It took me nearly a full minute of wondering and trying before I realized that I was playing on Xbox, and the X button is on a different spot. :P

But seriously, "Use" should be X/A, and "Delete" should be Square/X.

In theory, for weapons and armor it's dismantle because you are taking it apart for materials. For ships, shaders, and emotes you are simply removing it from your inventory until you go back to the tower and pick it up again. I think all those items should be labelled hide, but it probably wasn't worth the effort to change them all to match.