Some people seem to think "pin" and "pen" are pronounced differently.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

33. I have a friend who's from western PA.

His name is Don, and sometimes when he calls me he announces himself as Dawn.

I try not to tease him too much.

I spent the first fourteen years of my life in upstate NY (Utica and nearby), then moved to Tucson, AZ. I joke that for the first two years there I had no friends because no one could understand me when I spoke, even my French teacher, no matter which language I used.

It was there that I first heard people pronounce pen and pin exactly the same.

The up side of moving to Tucson was that almost all of my NY accent was done away with in a couple of years. Every so often, but very rarely any more, someone with a good ear will correctly guess where I'm originally from.

I am fascinated by accents. I don't have a very good ear myself, and I'll confuse accents that are actually quite distinctive, but the entire topic of language, linguistics, accents, and the likes completely captivate me.