Metanerd

Someone who was a regular nerd but adapted social skills and has a personality.

Comedians, for example, are metanerds because they often were the quiet kid in school but learned how to turn their immense knowledge into accessible humor.

From META- (beyond, transcending) + NERD

Steve Jobs is a metanerd who combined a knowledge of technology plus a clue as to what people would actually use it for (i.e. not as a computer) and revived Apple from the brink of death by, among other things, introducing iPod and iPhone.

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Nerd

It's not necessarily a bad thing or a good thing; it's just a characteristic.

A nerd is unusually smart, esp. in math, science, and/or computers. He or she tends to know a lot about pop culture, yet, ironically, often doesn't have great social skills. Usually has a great sarcastic, witty sense of humor (deriving from the knowledge of pop culture). Well-rounded, but just can't express him/herself to non-nerdy people well.

Examples:
Seth Cohen on "The O.C." (the best example)
Shia LaBoeuf's character in "Transformers"
The "I'm a Mac" guy in "Live Free or Die Hard"

Geek, dork, and dweeb, on the other hand, tend to have negative connotations.

See also metanerd

Guy 1: What's with the nerdy guys having these hot, nice girlfriends?
Guy 2: I think the women are tired of jerks and want someone who'll treat them nice and take care of them.
Guy 1: Yeah. So you want to get wasted and treat women like meaningless objects?
Guy 2: Yeah! Let's go!

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