English: still sucks

    After all these years of reading Dick Francis and even more years of reading John Le Carre and for that matter a year of living in England, I finally got around to looking up "peaked cap." From context, I knew generally what one would have to be, since they tend to be atop policemen and military officers and, you know, I've seen those. But what I wasn't getting, as who would, was what the "peak" referred to: it's the bill, or visor. I was trying to visualize an actual peak on the darned things and ever failing. I still just don't get it. I think hood makes more sense than bonnet, trunk more than boot and doors more than wings, but at least I can make sense of the British English versions. Peaked cap defeats me; I'm sorry, Britain.
    Closer to home, for the second time I've been asked for a cancelled check to prove that I really have a bank account. It occurs to me that possibly they mean a voided check, which would be a lot simpler, but means something totally different, at least in my non-peaked-cap-understanding lexicon. Not too many years ago, banks sent back all your cancelled checks (the ones you wrote and the bank had paid out on), but not anymore. I'm not sure why they need a cancelled (or voided) check really; it's possible that this is left over from when providing one would be really easy. Still, these are financial institutions. They ought to know better than me that nobody sends out cancelled checks these days. Shouldn't they? Or am I talking out of my butt again? (I know which way I'm betting!)