This error rankles!

This highly respected radio network should know better!
Heard today on Morning Edition:  

"It rankled him."

More and more often, speakers and writers use the word rankle as a transitive verb that takes a direct object, as in the example above. You'll see this nonstandard usage supported in today's "descriptive" dictionaries. The original, and still prevalent, usage is as an intransitive verb with no direct object:

"Though Veronica was glad that Buford had stopped making verbal attacks, his attitude still rankled."

A concise definition of to rankle is "to cause annoyance."