The urge to correct a minor detail can conceal a wish to recover your position in the room.

The correction is rarely about the detail. Something has shifted in the room, you have lost standing or attention, and a small factual point offers a legitimate way to speak and be right. It works briefly, and it usually costs more than the point was worth.

When you feel the urge to correct something minor, wait a beat and ask what happened just before. If the answer is that you felt diminished, there is a better move available, which is usually to say something substantive rather than something accurate. The impulse is information about the room.