Entrée vs Appetizer vs Starter vs Main Meal vs Main Course

[Alunny]

So....In Australia an entrée is an appetizer (or starter), and in America an entrée is actually the main meal. It's caused a lot of confusion for me when I lived in America, but I've noticed that it's slowly trickling down over here...which makes things a bit awkward when you go out for food or order in. People ask if you want the entrée version and I respond with "which ever version is bigger" if I am ordering my main meal.

Last night while going through take out menu's I noticed "appetizer" and "entrée" and "main course" though, which really confused the hell out of me. I often wonder how restaurants decide this, because I really feel like there should be some heavy set guidelines as part of licensing ha ha.