A STEREOTYPICAL COMMON PROSTITUTE STANDING AT A STREET CORNER IS JOINED BY ANOTHER.
SHARON: How's business?
TRACY: Slow.
SHARON: Same here.
TRACY: Are we getting a bit long in the tooth?
SHARON: Long teeth can be a problem. I remember once . . .
TRACY: I mean are we getting old?
SHARON: We're prehistoric. Have you seen the new girls?
TRACY: I know. It shouldn't be allowed.
SHARON: How young do you think they are?
TRACY: They're working 28 days a month.
SHARON: That's young.
ENDS.
Im sure im gonna make myself look like an idiot but I don't 'get' the punch to this at all. John
Quote: Ming the Mirthless @ September 30 2010, 8:28 AM BSTHow’s
You may need to re-edit.
I don't get it..
I think he means they haven't started their periods yet.
But why 28? Whose giving these hookers a few days off, dammit! 
I don't know why the apostrophes came out all weird but they're fixed now so thanks to Leevil for pointing out the weirdness.
Yes, the joke is perhaps a little inscrutable upon a first reading but the key lies in the variety of meanings a word can have and the meaning we place upon such a word will usually depend upon the context in which we hear the word used.
"Have you got a rubber?", for example, means one thing in an English schoolroom but quite another on the back seat of an American car.
Here, we have the word 'month' which can be either a calendar month (varying in length) or a lunar month of 28 days.
In the context of street prostitution - a global industry based almost entirely upon gynaecological hospitality - I think it's fair to assume the month referred to is the gynaecological (lunar) month of 28 days.
Thank you.
You may now fall about laughing.
Or not (as the case may be).
Not?
Bastards!
It would make sense to me if they 'didn't have to take a week off' rather than worked all month. Just me maybe.
Quote: Nat Wicks @ September 30 2010, 7:30 PM BSTIt would make sense to me if they 'didn't have to take a week off' rather than worked all month. Just me maybe.
I don't think it's just you. It's that you and I and everybody else takes a different view on what's funnier than what - and why.
I think my version is very funny although I concede I might well be adrift in an open boat in that respect. 
Maybe it's just the wording. The word 'can' will makes a big difference for me. Suggesting that the 'older' women can't, makes it more obvious what you're getting at.
"TRACY: They can work 28 days a month."
As a woman writer, your use of that line might be a useful and acceptable clarification of the point Tracy's making.
As a man, I couldn't comfortably make it that clear because 'you know what' is a subject gentlemen should (in my view) tiptoe around the edges of rather than wade into (if you'll pardon the unintentionally graphic imagery).
So, that's that sorted.
Well if you insist on hinting at lady times, at least make it obvious to idiots like me! In for a penny, in for an awkwardly menstrual pound, as the phrase goes..
I got it after a brief pause for thought. I must say I found it more uncomfortable than funny personally - possibly because it's my daughter's 12th birthday tomorrow.
i'm intrigued by your coyness about the menstrual cycle when the joke is about pre-pubescent prostitution.
To be honest when I first read it I thought the Working girls were post menopausal & the other girls were just of child bearing age.
I misunderstood, but I kinda liked it better before I understood.
Quote: Ming the Mirthless @ September 30 2010, 9:37 PM BSTAs a woman writer, your use of that line might be a useful and acceptable clarification of the point Tracy's making.
As a man, I couldn't comfortably make it that clear because 'you know what' is a subject gentlemen should (in my view) tiptoe around the edges of rather than wade into (if you'll pardon the unintentionally graphic imagery).
So, that's that sorted.
Bit condescending!
As a woman, I'd probablly suggest something subtler like 'Well they don't have to take 5 days off when they're on the blob.'