I was working on a lamp with the switch off thinking I was safe, suddenly I felt electricity on my arm when I touched the cable.
Someone told me that that’s because the switch was on the neutral instead of live, so when I touched the live it had power and I basically connected it to ground through me.
But aren’t both cables live or neutral depending on when you measure the wave?
Context: my house does not have a ground connection. I know it’s dangerous but I have a GFCI breaker and on the market I’m renting it could be worse.
In: 0
> But aren’t both cables live or neutral depending on when you measure the wave?
No. Live is switching between positive and negative voltage. Neutral stays (close) to 0V. It is not recommended to touch the neutral line because depending on certain fuckeries that might be present in your house wiring (the neutral wire going out of the house being broken for example) there may be dangerous voltage on it, but *normally*, *ideally* it wouldn’t zap you. Live always will.
> with the switch off thinking I was safe
If it can be unplugged, unplug it. If it can’t, turn off power at the breaker to the whole home but at least that room and verify with a multimeter that it is safe. You experienced a major [Layer 8 issue](https://www.apposite-tech.com/blog/layer-8/) and you are lucky to be writing this.
> I know it’s dangerous
A bit of an understatement. It’s a direct threat to your life every single time you touch something metal on an appliance made for grounded outlets.
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