Spelling
Canadian English tends to combine aspects of American and British spelling. Here are some highlights:
- Some nouns take -ice/-ence while matching verbs take -ise/ense. eg. practise / practice and license / licence
- Canadians tend to use the British -our ending rather than -or in some words like colour, flavour, labour, neighbour.
- Generally, words with Greek roots end in -ize while those with Latin roots end in -ise. eg. realize, paralyze. American English tends to standardize on -ize.
- You draw money from the bank with a cheque not a check.
- French derived words like theatre and centre tend to retain the -re ending. Although when used as a verb or in the sense of being "in the middle" it remains center.
Vocabulary
Canadian English uses generally the same vocabulary as American. There are a few regionalisms and quirks.
- A multi-level parking facility is a parkade.
- Poutine is delicious.
- In winter, you want to wear a toque(pronounced tu-que) to keep your head warm.
- You wear runners on your feet, not sneakers.
- Generally, you go to the washroom or bathroom (even when the referenced room does not contain a bath and is not intended for bathing) when nature calls. That term's generally been replaced by restroom in America and it's a public toilet or lavatory in Great Britain. In Canada, toilet is somewhat indelicate and avoided.
- A pond in farmland is a slough. (Rhymes with brew.)
- You book off work to go on holidays.
- My favourite from where I live: it's not a hooded sweatshirt, it's a bunny-hug.
Pronunciation
Pronunciation has American and British influence. There is some regional variation, and for some words, Canadians vary between British and American patterns. There are many little quirks, here's a few:
- The last letter of the alphabet is zed.
- Borg are Canadian. Futile, fertile, fragile etc. usually rhyme with "tile".
- Adult, composite -- accent is on the first syllable.
- Roof and hoof rhyme with "goof".
What sets Canadian pronunciation apart the most is the phenomonon known as Canadian Rising. Certain diphthongs are "raised" before voiceless consonants (eg. f,k,p,s,t). While most Americans discern no difference between writer and rider, in Canada, the vowel sounds are distinctly different.
Canadian Rising causes the illusion of about sounding like "aboot" to American ears.
In the US you will almost never hear, "trousers", if at all, outside of certain written texts (though anyone will understand what you mean). It's just exceedingly rare to hear a native US citizen say something like, "Wow, it's so cold out, I'm glad I wore trousers today.". Extremely rare.
US: pants = vernacular for a garment covering your entire legs (such as jeans, slacks, sweats, etc... which are just more specific forms of the same thing).
UK: trousers = vernacular for a garment covering your entire legs (such as jeans, slacks, sweats, etc... which are just more specific forms of the same thing).
US AND UK: underpants/underwear = the garments you wear underneath your main garments (such as pants or trousers or shorts) to cover your private areas and keep things clean.
Source:
Myself. I'm a US citizen from central Texas in my 40s. This is based on 40 years of experience listening to people, reading, and watching TV. I have rarely heard this usage outside academic speeches, papers, and some other forms of writing (i.e. fictional works). In hearing parents, friends, co-workers, an ex-wife, my children, their friends, acquaintances, and even strangers, I have rarely ever heard the word "trousers" in everyday vernacular.
It is somewhat anecdotal, I'll give you that much, but it's also so obvious that I would venture more than 99% of native Americans would not use trousers in everyday speech. The word pants is without question the most dominant form of describing a garment that covers one's legs in the US (or the specific forms of pants: slacks, jeans, sweats, etc.). This does not mean it's never used, or that Americans don't know what trousers are; that would be an absurd notion and should not be the idea gathered from this answer.
Best Answer
No, Canadian pronunciations of "about" (approximated as "aboat/aboot", IPA [ə.ˈbʌʊt] or [ə.ˈbɛʊt] in Southern Ontario) are not equally common on the American side of the border, adjacent to it.
Timothy Vance wrote about this question back in 1987 in his article "Canadian Raising" in Some Dialects of the Northern United States, where he looked at both /aɪ/ raised to [ʌɪ] (as in Canadian pronunciations of "knife") and /aʊ/ raised to [ʌʊ] (as in Canadian pronunciations of "about"). He found the latter to be rarer - though not absent - on the American side of the border.
As a Canadian linguist married to a woman from rural Western New York, I can confirm that this observation still holds true anecdotally in 2022. My wife's pronunciation and her family's pronunciation of "knife" are similar to mine, while their pronunciation of "about" is not. They're also very aware of this difference, even as non-linguists.
By the way, we have an authoritative resource on Canadianisms called A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles. It covers words, expressions, and meanings characteristic of Canadian English.