In ‘Lock In’ by John Scalzi, is “threeps” meant to be C-3PO?

Question

I'm currently listening to Lock In by John Scazi and, as it's an audiobook (read by Wil Wheaton) I don't have access to the text.

Throughout the book so far (I'm about 1/5 through) they refer to 'threeps' (at least that's how Wil Wheaton pronounces it). It was mentioned that 'threep' was a shortened form of 'one of the most popular and lovable androids from science fiction'.

Without access to the text and any clues it can give, I'm thinking that it refers to C-3P0 from Star Wars which I seem to recall gets shortened to '3P0' - hence 'threep'.

An I correct in my assumption ?

Answer 1

I don't have my text with me, but it is spelled "threep" in the book. There's a passage, possibly in the prequel short rather than an expository section of the book, where the president's wife gets her first remote-controlled body. She looks in a mirror and says something like, "I look like C-3PO!" And the name stuck.

Found my text! (Yay ebooks and internet!)

Then, in a very Margie Haden move, it looked over its shoulder at the President and spoke, clearly, in a vouce that sounded just like Margie's always did.
Rebecca Warner:
I remember it. She said, "I look Just like C3PO!" Which, when the press got hold of the comment, is how personal transports started to be called "threeps".

-Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome, p. 44, ebook (also available to read for free on Tor.com)