Accents and Dialects...

So, unknown to me, I have this really strong southern accent/African American dialect! And apparently it's hilarious!!!!! I don't get it!! For instance "pen" and "pin" sound the exact same to me, but they have a distinct sound and are supposed to be pronounced differently! Oops! Also whenever I say the word "bench" everyone laughs because it sounds the same as the word I shall no type (rhymes with snitch). I feel as if I say them two completely different ways, but I guess I don't make much of a distinction with the word "bench". As you can tell all we really do is sit around in our kitchen and talk about each others accents and dialects! But those are some darn good times!