accusative cursing

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 4/8/07, Michael H Covarrubias <mcovarru at purdue.edu> wrote:
>
> A recent AP story reports that a Northwest airlines flight was canceled because
> of a pilot's temper tantrum. In the story we read: "Authorities were told that
> the pilot cursed one passenger who confronted him, Gregor said."
>
> Inanimate objects are cursed all the time, but with a human object I would
> expect to find "cursed at" or some other syntactical indication of a dative form.
>
> This transitive use of 'cursed' sounds like a case of nefarious magic to me. How
> common is this form?

"Curse" = 'swear at' is fairly common. Here are some more news
articles in which people are "cursed" with obscene epithets rather
than evil spells:

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http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/61236.html
Kansas City Star, Apr. 6, 2007
Family members of the victim shouted and cursed the judge.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070405.wsptleafs5/TPStory/Sports/columnists
Globe and Mail, Apr. 5, 2007
The Islanders also claimed Lundqvist and teammate Sean Avery cursed
the girls during other breaks in play and that one unknown Ranger may
have spat on a girl.
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http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070404/COL06/704040415
Detroit Free Press, Apr. 4, 2007
Simon extended his hand. Declining to shake it, Taubman cursed the man.
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http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1175678102225320.xml&coll=3
Mobile Press-Register, Apr. 4, 2007
Binzer cursed the officer, and told him that no policeman could arrest him.
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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/01/leahy_finds_chance_to_fight_executive_privilege_strategy/
Boston Globe, Apr. 1, 2007
In 2004, when Vice President Dick Cheney ran into Leahy on the Senate
floor, Cheney cursed the senator with an epithet.
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--Ben Zimmer

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