(urth) Vance and Tokien as influences on D&D

[Dave Lebling]

Adam Thornton wrote:
> Imagine my delight upon finding, early on in _Lolita_, that 
> prostitutes were referred to as _grues_.  The Great Underground Empire 
> will, I fear, never look quite the same to me.
Aha! The French "grue" is "crane" (both the bird and the lifting 
device). I suspect that's where Nabokov got it (the bird, I would 
suspect, though I suppose "lifting device" might apply as well).

Imagine my surprise when I first visited Montreal and found in the 
Yellow Pages "location des grues" ("crane rental"). One hopes they are 
rented only in daylight.

Dave Lebling, aka vizcacha