[NhanH]

Scooter is a horrible horrible mean of transporation for the mass.

I lives in Vietnam, where scooters are dominant. It is even less compact than car on the road.

[Symbiote]

Almost everyone means an electric kick scooter, not the vehicles in Vietnam - those are motor scooters.

[rainyMammoth]

Which I also find a weird language abuse. The original meaning of "scooter" is the vehicle in Vietnam. Why did we suddenly agree to call those "kick scooters" as "scooters".

This is even more confusing for companies like "scoot" that rent both "scooters" and "kick scooters"

[Symbiote]

No. The original meaning is actually a boat for use on ice and water, in 1903.

Then in 1917 it was used to refer to the children's toy.

Source: printed OED.

[et2o]

They have called these things scooters for over twenty years at this point.