Since this is, semantically, a set operation, should we not perhaps use
sets:is_element/2 instead? Something like:
vowels() -> sets:from_list("aeiou").
is_vowel(C) -> sets:is_element(C, vowels()).
Just kidding, of course... (Obvious efficiency issues.) :-)
DBM
P.S. No, Mats, I did not benchmark this. :-)