[homoe]

Originally Posted by homoe

I'd never heard this one Miss Kitty! In the Midwest we said "She Looks Like Death Warmed Over"...

Here's a hypothesis: "Warmed over" refers to the preparation of leftover food to serve again. Leftovers are less desirable than food just now cooked, and the warming process can damage them further. They get overcooked, dry, limp where you want crispy, stiff where you want soft, charred around the edges. Sauces separate. Flavor vanishes. So "warmed over" is an intensifier.