A misunderstanding caught early costs one awkward sentence. Caught late, it can cost a friendship.

Small confusions do not stay small. Checked at the time, one costs a slightly awkward sentence and some mild embarrassment; left alone for three weeks it grows a story, collects evidence, and gets told to other people. By then you are not clearing up a misread message, you are arguing about who somebody is.

If something said yesterday has been nagging at you, ask about it today. Tell them you might have taken it wrong and ask what they meant. The awkward part lasts about ten seconds and buys the friendship back.