diff --git a/tex-buf.el b/tex-buf.el
index 24d287cf2c..f0e26bc27f 100644
--- a/tex-buf.el
+++ b/tex-buf.el
@@ -877,7 +877,7 @@ omitted) and `TeX-region-file'."
                       (TeX-mode-specific-command-list major-mode) nil t
                       nil 'TeX-command-history default))))
     ;; If the answer is "latex" it will not be expanded to "LaTeX"
-    (setq answer (car-safe (TeX-assoc answer TeX-command-list)))
+    (setq answer (car-safe (assoc-string answer TeX-command-list t)))
     (if (and answer
              (not (string-equal answer "")))
         answer
@@ -906,7 +906,7 @@ QUEUE is non-nil when we are checking for the printer queue."
                                               (format " (default %s)" TeX-printer-default) ""))
                                   TeX-printer-list))
                              ""))
-             (setq printer (or (car-safe (TeX-assoc printer TeX-printer-list))
+             (setq printer (or (car-safe (assoc-string printer TeX-printer-list t))
                                printer))
              (not (if (or (null printer) (string-equal "" printer))
                       (setq printer TeX-printer-default)
diff --git a/tex.el b/tex.el
index 888a776a3b..bac1804a00 100644
--- a/tex.el
+++ b/tex.el
@@ -4708,15 +4708,6 @@ Return nil if ELT is not a member of LIST."
       (when (member elt list)
         (throw 'found t)))))
 
-(defun TeX-assoc (key list)
-  "Return non-nil if KEY is `equal' to the car of an element of LIST.
-Like assoc, except case insensitive."
-  (let ((case-fold-search t))
-    (TeX-member key list
-                (lambda (a b)
-                  (string-match (concat "^" (regexp-quote a) "$")
-                                (car b))))))
-
 (defun TeX-match-buffer (n)
   "Return the substring corresponding to the N'th match.
 See `match-data' for details."