In the past year or so I have noticed an increase in the usage of the term "Speak to" used in the place of "explain", "refer to" or "talk about". Â "Joe can speak to this subject better than I can", for example. Â I have noticed at work recently that it has morphed into "talk to", as in "Joe, can you talk to this PowerPoint slide"? or "I can talk to that subject". Â Is this a recent local trend, or a regional one?
Welcome to the forum geogirl. Don't know where you're located, but here in Arizona I hear it all the time. I also hear it on national broadcasts, so I suspect this is not a regional thing. Grammatically, it does not make sense. Still, people know what it means.
I cannot point you to an origin. Ngrams shows a reversal of a downward usage trend for "speak to" around 1980, but I don't know if that corresponds to the usage you're asking about.
My guess is that it's just one of those morphs of the language that (for whatever reason) caught on. Sorta like NASA saying "on orbit" instead of "in orbit." Or the NFL reporting scores/yards/whatever as "on the game."
'Speak to' sounds ok by me. It seems fairly common, and more business-liked than 'speak about.'
Thank you for your responses. I have noticed that these memes happen mostly in the office, or on radio/television, as Heimhenge said. Another one that seemed to spread quickly through meetings and emails was "I am needing" or "I am wanting". It's interesting how people will say one phrase for awhile, then it falls off, and another phrase pops up.
But you've raised another thing-