I'm a mediaevalist, and I very often hear people comment on mediaeval shoes, etc., as "looking like elves' shoes", etc. What the Victorians (grrrr---those pesky Victorians) decided to call the "Gothic" style, ie, a fondness for slender, pointed decorative shapes, is visually very representative of the Middle Ages in most people's imaginations. Since fairy tales, folk lore, and even modern fantasy literature are often placed in quasi-mediaeval settings, I wonder how much affect this has had on the convention of pointy-eared elf & fairy folk?