[damhsa]

it is a dash. you could use an em dash - or a 2em dash - but this dash is probably shorter than 1em - unless like me you have a monospace font. if it can be a hyphen-minus, it can be a hyphen/minus/dash. and that is what it is, because that is how it is used, ASCII be damned. the english language and its typography is beholden to neither ASCII™ nor UNICODE™.

[dragonwriter]

The hypen/minus/<various dashes> distinction long predates ASCII (much less Unicode), conflation between them is a product of ASCII with some contribution from the limitations of mechanical typewriters, the distinction isn't an imposition from ASCII onto the English language.