memcmp is always faster than strcmp. The change in the `a_word`
comparison function is the most important.
All tests pass:
```
$> git clean -xf; ./bootstrap && ./configure && make check
...
977 Tests in 132 Categories Complete ... No Failures :-)
=
tolower only modifies the character if there is a valid lower
conversion:
https://linux.die.net/man/3/tolower:
```
The value returned is that of the converted letter, or c if the
conversion was not possible.
```
Both `isupper` and `tolower` are implemented with essentially the same
lookup table s