Move over, high school quarterback. The geek is the new cool kid in town.

让位吧，高中橄榄球队四分卫，现在城里的新派酷哥是“极客”。

According to a new study presented by information technology company Modis in honor of Geek Pride Day, one in six Americans considers himself or herself a geek, and a whopping（巨大的） 57 percent believe being called a geek is a compliment.

Americans most closely associate the term "geek" with favorable attributes such as being extremely intelligent (45 percent), a reliable source for technology advice (56 percent) and a first adopter of technology (45 percent), according to a phone survey of 1,000 American adults.

However, perhaps one of the most interesting findings that supports this point is that nearly twice as many Americans would prefer to be called a “geek” (41 percent) rather than a "jock" (22 percent).

Of the people surveyed by the Opinion Research Group for Modis' study, 17 percent said they were geeks.

The results pointed¹ to a cultural shift in the way Americans perceive geeks. While two-thirds of "Millennials," the age 18-34 demographic group, think being identified as a geek is a compliment, only 39 percent of respondents who are 65 and older agree.

Eighty-two percent of the respondents feel it is more acceptable to be a geek today than it was 15 years ago.

"It might be Americans' increasing dependence² on and comfort with technology, or the prevalent images of former 'geeks' who now successfully lead multibillion-dollar technology companies, but being a geek has gone mainstream," said Jack³ Cullen, president of Modis.

At the same time, the survey showed self-identified geeks are not as fond of the label "nerd（呆子） ."

Eighty-seven percent of them say they were more comfortable being called a geek than a nerd. Survey respondents feel the professional fields best-suited for geeks are video game designer (65 percent), technology engineer (50 percent) and professional blogger (37 percent).