Since IHOP is mostly unknown in German-speaking countries, I think it's best if we drop that line from the translation. (We could leave it in there and explain it, but explaining jokes is usually not a good idea…)
best if we drop that line
Please don't. See my comments elsewhere. A translator has no business making alterations to the original work.
I feel very strongly about this, because I have huge amounts of experience reading bad translations of Sci-Fi authors to French, to the point that at an early age I taught myself English out of the originals just so I could enjoy non-sabotaged versions of these works I loved so much.
We're currently translating chapter 11 into German. It's going along fine, but
is still puzzling us. No dictionary entries, no HPMoR-unrelated search hits, nothing…
Is this some kind of dadaist joke by Eliezer? Or are we missing something?