"fruit" as a verb

[notmyname216]

Given this sentence:

Fruit flies like bananas.

Why can "fruit" not be a verb? I realize it is being used as a noun in this sentence.

If "fruit" was a verb then "flies" must be a noun.

[Tdol]

If 'fruit' were a verb in this sentence, it would have to be an imperative, ordering someone to do the same to flies as bananas, whatever 'fruiting a fly' would be.

[Casiopea]

Additionally, English is an SVO language: Subject+Verb+Object word-order.

Statement: Fruit flies (subject) like (verb) banana (object).
Imperative: [You] (subject) like (verb) fruit flies (object)! (awkward command)

The subject comes first, the verb second, and the object third, so naturally speakers of English interpret the first word - or at least the word that comes before the verb - as the subject.

With questions though, the word-order changes. The Verb comes first. Either the Subject-Verb pair is inverted (SV -> VS) or a form of DO is inserted.

DO Insertion
Fruit flies like bananas. => Dofruit flies like bananas?

Subject-Verb Invertion
Fruit flies are insects. => Are fruit flies insects?

If anything, it'd be 'flies' that some speakers might interpret as being the verb. 'flies' is a verb as well as a noun.

[1] Fruit (Subject) flies (Verb) like bananas. (like means, in the same way as)
Cf. That kite flies like a bird.

Example [1] is grammatical, but not all that meaningful. You see, bananas can't fly.