I have a question I'd like to ask an American- Is it true that in America, chow mien doesn't have noodles in it?
Also, is it true that Americans call their main course an "entree"?
Regarding the latter - yes, and here’s why; it isn’t the ‘Americans are idiots’ reason, either.
https://www.casaschools.com/why-americans-say-entree-for-main-course/
Regarding the former - American ‘Chinese’ food is surprisingly regional and there are many variations, not least of which because it is the chef’s impression of what a dish should be whether that be because of where they are from or some other reason. There’s no standards body setting definitions. (“Who is General Tso and why are we eating his chicken? Does he know these chicken are missing?”)
That said, most US Chinese restaurants that I’ve seen offer a ‘chow mein’ containing noodles. (Often there is more noodles than anything else, but that’s another separate issue.) The major national Chinese chain restaurants all define chow mein as featuring noodles.
Please feel free to beat whoever told you that we generally don’t use noodles in chow mein.
Edit: re: entrée: In my opinion, another set of factors that may have contributed to the continued use of the term as it is in the US:
1. Americans historically often tended to have large families or at least dinner on the farm tended to be a large communal affair with the hired hands and laborers - such that one main dish would not serve everyone. There was often a surplus of different types of foods, so what Europeans would call entrees in that day and age (because the portions were restricted in favor of a main dish) could be expanded in quantity to also be useful as main dishes in their own right, though people would have to choose which dish they wanted to have as their main.
2. The changes in American society that gave rise to cafeteria and automat dining (even before the Depression) in the 20s and 30s would further push the common definition towards that initiated in point 1 above. Where a regular restaurant or diner might have but one ‘main dish’ they served per night, a cafeteria or automat would have
many available.
3. Finally, increasing mobility and changing tastes would start collapsing the European ‘five plus course meal’ down to the now traditional mainline American restaurant formula of optional appetizer, salad
or soup, main course and optional dessert. Nobody had time for more courses.