antecedents

     In the American South, people often say that they have "antecedents". This far north, we have ancestors--if Southerners mean ancestors when they say "antecedents". Most people think of  "antecedents" as a grammar term. An antecedent is the proper name or specific person or thing later designated by a pronoun--for example, in these sentences--
"John went to the store. He won't be back for an hour."--"John" is the antecedent of "he".
In these sentences--
"How's your leg? It's fine."--"leg" is the antecedent of "it".
When we read a piece with too many pronouns and too few antecedents, we sometimes lose track. We don't know who or what the pronouns stand for.
Do some people have antecedents, as many Southerners say?  An antecedent would be the person you modeled yourself on, with you a generic copy of some kind--like a weird form of identity theft.