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My cow-orker has a section title "Removing/Destroying Content for Safe Disposal".
This refers to encryption keys and other data objects inside a device.
We want to avoid having headings wrap, if possible.
My issue is that "Disposal" has the connotation of jettison, throw away, junk.
However, actual tossing of the device onto the garbage heap is only one of several reasons why the actions in the section, under the heading, might be employed. The same actions might be invoked to make the device data-safe before placing the device on a shelf in a warehouse or a safe, as a spare, or before packing it up to ship to a customer, or before packing it to ship to another division of one's organization (such as after poking at it in a lab, or qualifying it before deployment, etc.), or before shipping it back to us for repair.
If I was writing for my peers, I would substitute (say) "Disposition" as a suitable umbrella term.
But the couple of dictionaries I've checked have that meaning (arrangement, placement, settlement...) way down the list after character traits or inclinations.
So.... y'all, being the literate bunch you are, would immediately grasp the intent of "Disposition" as the final word in the heading, but our audience of (often) ESL engineers, technicians, security experts, might not. Similarly, though we don't currently translate, we might someday.
It's important to have "Removing or Destroying" so that readers will recognize that this is the section they need.
Thoughts?
Please don't get sidetracked by your dislike of the "/".... ahem...
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