Full Idea
Much of what speakers do that passes for referring is merely alluding or describing. ...It is one thing for a speaker to express a thought about a certain object using an expression, and quite another for the expression to stand for that object.
Gist of Idea
Just alluding to or describing an object is not the same as referring to it
Source
Kent Bach (What Does It Take to Refer? [2006], 22.3)
Book Reference
'Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Language', ed/tr. Lepore,E/Smith,B [OUP 2008], p.551
A Reaction
Bach builds up a persuasive case for this view. If the question, though, is 'what are you talking about?', then saying what is being alluded to or singled out or described seems fine. Bach is being rather stipulative.