Thanks for seconding my judgment that this had to be cleared up, not only because of JackG's post but also becasue of JackD's post (although the latter is the "softer", "ADA", "Arthur Schlesinger", "Walter Reuther" version.)

I'm thinking two things:

a) folks who themselves were harmed or had relatives harmed - they would react to the word X-communism (X = C or c) the way a kid who's had a run-in with a copperhead will react to a garter snake .... the operative trigger is the recognition of a "SNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKE­!!!!!! in the vicinity.

b) folks who have trouble making the transition from arithmetic to elementary algebra in 5th/6th/7th grades.