I feel as if I'm missing something in this poem, and maybe someone can help me. I guess the key is that it would be the john, not the prostitute, who typically would be asking How much, no? So why is that what she wants to learn how to pronounce? For that matter, why does she want to learn how to pronounce her name, when surely that would be the one word she would be most likely already to know how to pronounce. If she can say How do you say my name? she must be able to say her own name as well. Or is she saying those words in sign language? If the narrator also deaf? She she want him to ask her How much? I feel there's some clue to the poem here. I am wondering if the narrator is rather frightening.