This essay's explorative argument began to take shape from a misused cliche--one that, when interpreted, stands out to the author as perhaps so interesting that it nearly hinges on the sublime: "love of money is the "route" of all evil." The original cliche, of course, is "love of money is the "root" of all evil." One might ask how far this misuse deviates from its original. Both of these phrases, after all, convey distaste for avarice. But "the "root" of all evil" might lead one to imagine a bush or tree, blindingly bright with intimated iniquity, whose roots are sewn together with various marks of hate and greed. On the other hand, when one considers the image called up by "the "route" of all evil," a path emerges and movers on it, and the scene is in motion. A traveler inexorably traverses such a path. With slumping shoulders, she moves without a soul toward the bend in the road, now and then careening toward a mirage of a golden something that promises fulfillment. The "route" of all evil, then, seems to bring readers closer to the weight of the sentiment the cliche attempts to impart. So, does it matter that a writer was unaware that she had it "wrong" when she wrote this phrase? In this essay, the author argues for the malcliche as an unlikely episteme. She uses the malcliche, in other words, to posit an open epistemological vantage through which one might find surprising value. As an unconscious knowledge creation, it potentially honors that which otherwise evades immediate notice. (Contains 6 notes.)