Detestable Abominations and the Like

I did a quick survey of "abomination" and its close synonyms in the Old Testament in response to a question from a good friend. I had to correct a couple of misconceptions that I have entertained for years. There are several Hebrew words used for this idea, but two in particular stood out:

Hebrew: Shekets/shakats/shikuts שׁקץ
English: Something detestable/abominable, to detest, to make detestable
Context: 

• Unclean animals of all kinds are to be considered detestable to you. Leviticus 7, 11 
• Eating unclean animals will make you detestable. Leviticus 11:43, 20:25
• Unclean animals offered as sacrifice or impure sacrifices. Deuteronomy 29:17, 2 Chronicles 15:8, Jeremiah 4:1, Jeremiah 16:18, Ezekiel 5:11 (Sometimes translated as "abominable idols" or something like that, but "idols" is an assumption of the translator. I'm pretty sure it's referring to the sacrifice, not the idol.)

Hebrew: Toebah תּועבה
English: Abomination
Context: 

• Sexual immorality including temple prostitution. Leviticus 18, 20:13, 1 Kings 14:24, Jeremiah 6:15
• Human sacrifice, necromancy, and related practices. Deuteronomy 18, 2 Kings 16:3, 2 Chronicles 28:2-3
• Idolatry and general pagan religious practices. Deuteronomy 20:18, 32:16, 2 Kings 21:2, 23:13, 2 Chronicles 28:2-3, 34:33, Jeremiah 16:18
• Generally wicked behavior. Proverbs

There is definitely a difference between the two words, but it seems to be lost on the English translators. That's more the fault of the English language than of the translators, though. The major difference that I can see is that "shekets" and it's relatives is used when God commands us to hold a thing to be detestable, especially unclean animals, like trying to train a child not to eat something he found on the ground. It’s not that the parent is repulsed by the child eating it so much as he needs to teach the child to be repulsed for himself. On the other hand, whatever is "toebah" is offensive personally to God. It is behavior that he hates: idolatry, sexual immorality, and a love of death. I don't think that English has such a distinction.

With that perspective, it seems perfectly reasonable to say that God told us not to eat unclean animals because it's bad for us to do so. Whether it's bad physically or spiritually or both is another question. The last option gets my vote.