This conversation is from a tv series, Modern Family, and Manny(boy) comes into a room looking cheerful and talks to his step-father (Jay).
Manny: Hey Jay! Have you noticed a spring in my step?
Jay: Oh, kids say cruel things. That doesn't mean you'll turn out that way.
Manny: (frowning) No. We have something in common. I'm seeing a younger woman.
Jay: How much younger are we talking about?
Manny: 13 months. She makes me feel like a fifth grader again.
I know what "spring in one's step" means – you're walking lightly and it shows your happiness etc. – but I don't understand Jay's remarks following Manny's line. Turn out what way? How has Jay understood Manny's words so that he answers like that?
I mean, I can guess Jay presumed "a spring in my step" to be an insult from one of Manny's peers mocking the way he walks rather than understanding the idiomatic meaning, but I don't understand how Jay understood it. What does "spring" mean here, then? Is it "flexibility"?
I also saw an article saying that the writer of this episode is a lesbian, so there were several gay jokes in it, including this one about the spring in his step, but this just confuses me more. How is it a gay joke? How should I understand this to make it qualify as a gay joke? (I'm not sure if it's relevant, but just so you know, neither Jay nor Manny is gay in this show.)
Best Answer
The meaning of "spring in one's step", as Manny used it, is this:
Wiktionary
The meaning of "spring" is "jump" or "leap". Someone who has a spring in his step is the opposite of someone who is depressed.
However, Jay has interpreted "spring in my step" to mean that Manny's peers have told him he has a spring in his step because they think he is effeminate, or even homosexual. Manny didn't mean it that way at all, and "spring in my step" is his own phrase, used to mean that he is light-hearted because of his infatuation with a girl. The joke is Jay's misinterpretation, contrasted with Manny's unconcern.
Compare "light in the loafers":
Grammarphobia