Cure a socially awkward friend?

i think you're pretty much doing it already... just by being his friend and accepting him for who he is. even though you're asking how to change him, you yourself seem to have no trouble accepting him, you just seem to be worried about how others perceive and then, therefore, judge and reject him. i don't think you should worry about it. i think it would be doing him a disservice to shine a bright light on his inability to measure up to the social norm. instead, simply develop your friendship and, by that, i mean find activities that you enjoy doing with him and model the correct behavior while doing them, whether it's watching movies, going out to dinner, playing golf or, even... guys have to do it, too... shopping. to take someone and strip them down to their lowest level in order to *fix* them would be incredibly destructive and, even if he learned everything you think he should from that, he'd harbor animosity toward you for doing it that way. it might be a lot slower and more painful for you to stand by and let him do all the work but it's the most compionate thing to do.