English Lesson: "Sweetie, can I ask you something?"

“Sweetie, can I ask you something?”

Your boyfriend has been acting strangely recently. You want to have a serious talk with him to find out why. You start the conversation this way.

Sweetie, can I ask you something?

"Sweetie" is a name that you can call someone. Here are some examples of who calls who "sweetie":

Mothers can call their children "sweetie"
A father can call his daughters "sweetie", but probably not his sons.
Teachers might call their students "sweetie" if the students are very young, like 8 years old or lower.
Some gay men call their friends and various other people "sweetie".
Some older women call anyone younger than them "sweetie", even strangers.
You can call your boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife "sweetie".

When you need to ask someone a question that's important, complicated, or might make them upset, you first ask:

Can I ask you something?

Or:

Can I ask you a question?

Of course, this is already a question, so sometimes when you ask someone "Can I ask you a question?" they will respond:

You just did!

This is supposed to be a joke. Do you get the joke?