Fresh Veggies and Saggy Old Fruit/Frisches Gemüse und Altes Obst

Hier macht man Komisches mit Obst und Gemüse - Here in Germany they do funny things with fresh produce - in their language, at least. "Fresh young vegetables (frisches junges Gemüse)" also means a young, fit, sexy looking girl. "Old fruit (altes Obst)" applies to someone who sags and is not physically attractive anymore. So, how did this dichotomy happen? Why are veggies sexy, and fruit works like saltpeter?? I though a banana was the perfect phallic symbol bar none! But wait, it gets more interesting....If you have nothing productive to do here, you are "cucumbering around (rumgurken)". And, if you have a phase in your income in which you don't earn much money, it is a "cucumber time (Gurkenzeit)". So, don't even think about starting anything positive with a cucumber over here!! If you can't hear well, you must have "beans in your ears". Nothing positive so far, when you look at produce individually. But wait...If a guy gets a compliment from a girl, he has "pulled a cherry onto land (eine Kirsche ans Land gezogen)." So what? I think the bottom line is, we all need a balanced diet - in our mouths and in our minds - of saggy fruit and fresh veggies. Für uns Amerikaner ist das echt lustig - wir benutzen eher Tiere als Sinnbilder für Menschen und den Umgang miteinander. "Er ist ein Stud (Hengst) oder she's a chick (Kücke) z.B. Warum vegetarisch in Deutschland und Fleisch in den USA? Hat jemand eine Idee?