This gets us a bit into the definition of "sugar", I think. Specifically, all the constructs you mention are syntactic shorthands for the same underlying concepts, and the original syntax also remains available - which is to say, those constructs actually are syntactic sugar. Ruby having three ways, in two cases, to do one thing, is not.

I'm glad you mentioned "The Good Parts"! Crockford published in 2008 and the state of the art in JS has so evolved as to make further such work mostly unnecessary, or so I infer from its more-or-less absence over the last decade or so at least. That Ruby still requires such explainers be published in 2023 seems more an argument to my point than to yours.

You're also very anxious to make the perfect the enemy of the good here, which is a surprise after the explicit disclaimer in my prior comment. Why are you asking me to defend an argument I've been at such pains to make clear I'm not advancing?