Q: At the company where I work, the project managers use the
phrase “speak to” like this: “Would you be able to speak to this
question?” Is that usage correct? Or is it just another “office-
ism”? A: People use the expression “speak to,” meaning to
address an issue, in two different ways. The first usage, as in
the example “increased crime speaks to the need for vigilance,”
goes back to the 17th century, according to the Oxford English
Dictionary. In this sense, “speak to” means to influence or to
constitute evidence of something. The second usage, as in “let
me speak to that,” also goes back at least as far as the 17th
century. The OED cites several published examples of “speak to”
in the sense of to deal with or discuss or comment on. The first
citation is from 1610: “I desire them therefore to speake to
these foure points.” So both usages are well-established. But
these days they’re also much overused, especially in muddy or
imprecise writing. I find the second one the most annoying. When
I hear people say,