Just curious, do you speak English with an accent that has the words Lent and lint pronounced the same, or nearly the same? For example, do you pronounce "pen" and "pin" identically? The sounds are close, but in some accents the words are pronounced exactly the same.
Grew up in Ohio. I pronounce pen and pin the same way unless I am purposely trying to not, then I think I try to make pin a little more nasally but still pretty much sounds the same.