Toothache

I told my dentist that I think I had a toothache. They told me it was all in my head Idiom taken literally setup imaginary/psychological The idiom 'all in your head' means something is not real or is psychosomatic. payoff literal location A toothache literally involves pain in the head/mouth region, so it is physically located in one's head. The dentist's dismissive phrase is reinterpreted as a literal geographic truth about where toothaches occur. .