little_details

Place: in a pub
Time: future, but the character speaks as if it were now

I've Googled under "Irish rugby union discussions", "Irish rugby union talk", "rugby talk Ireland", and "rugby language Ireland" and checked out the Wikipedia entries for rugby union and the European Cup, but I haven't found what I'm looking for. I'm trying to figure out how an Irish man of working-class stock would say certain things in a casual conversation with a person he doesn't know who's sitting beside him in a pub. This is all dialogue.

How would he say that one team was playing at another? Would he say "Leinster's at Edinburgh"?

If he was describing the events of a previous game, could he say, "...and the beating they took from the Perpignan side last week"?

Would he call a season a "season" or a "year"? And would he say "Sportsman X has had a hell of a year/season?" And would he say "a hell of a" in those specific words?

And if he wanted the bartender to turn on the television, would he tell him "the European Cup's on"? If not, what words would he specifically use? (The bartender is not Irish.)

Thank you! Please ask if there's anything else you need to know that I haven't included.

I'd like to remind everyone that it's not enough to just tell us you googled; you need to include at least some of the keywords you googled. I've been letting this slide lately because I'm lazy, but I'm going to start posting reminders and tighten up on what I let through the queue, because it seems that people don't remember otherwise.

I need some help regarding karate exhibitions.
My character has been invited to perform (is that the right word?) at an exhibition/competition/ tournament. He is very skilled in karate and the use of the katana.
I need to know what some of the various exhibitions are called. I watched sidekicks many years ago and recall katas performed with various weapons.
Are the katas performed to music?
How many points do the participants score before the match is considered 'won'?

I've Googled and Wikied karate exhibitions, karate tournaments, karate competitions, Chuck Norris, Sidekicks, Karate Kid, kenjittsu, kenjutsu, Iaijutsi and kata.

The video store has the two movies but only on VHS and I don't own a VCR.

Help is much appreciated!

E.T.A.
The story takes place in New York City. He is 17 and also participates in some of the sparring competitions. He's trying to encourage a group of younger kids who are being harrassed by older kids from another dojo.
The exhibition/trounament isn't really an integral part of the story, it's my reason for getting him to New York but I don't want it to sound stupid.
Also the raised square area where the people 'perform' - is it called the stage?
How many judges are there for the katas?
I'm wanting him to perform a kata using one or two katanas. Is this something that is unusual?

Okay, my Google-fu is weak, and I'm not able to find an answer to this, so I was hoping you could either point me in the right search direction or if you're a forensic anthropologist type, provide some answers.

Basically, I have a large building that's been completely sealed for about 25-26 years (sci fi world, very advanced technology). The temperature is cool, and I imagine it's relatively dry in there. There are hundreds of bodies left to rot in there. Would they be appropriately mummified as I suspect, or would the cool/dry temps + lack of scavengers lead to them being squishy and nasty(ier)?

Thank you in advance!

ETA: I tried search strings like "rate of decomposition human body", "human decay", "decomposition human corpse"... and that's all I can remember at the moment.

For a fantasy world based on ancient China, I was doing research on foot binding, and I stumbled across a little tidbit of information on wikipedia that I've been trying to find out more about, with no sucess.

Apparently, the Manchus attempted to abolish the practice of foot binding, and Manchu women wore "flower bowl shoes" which gave the illusion of tiny feet without actually binding them.

I've searched google using terms "flower bowl shoes" "foot binding + manchus" "imitation foot binding" and other combinations, but I haven't been able to find more information about the shoes. I would love a little more history about them, and a picture of what they looked like would be splendid.

I really would love to have a more interesting way of avoiding my MC having bound feet than just "in this fantasy world, it didn't exist."