Well not answering for him, but I was asking about this in the off-chance
that the breaker might not have been off. I was more interested in whether
or not a shock is possible when all you're touching is two hot wires -
obviously when the breaker's off you shouldn't get shocked (but that's why
you measure it with a meter first) at any time. I realize that this is one
of those questions where I'm treading on dangerous ground and the responses
need to be stated carefully so as not to mislead someone reading it who may
not have been following the whole conversation.

If there are two hots, the chances are they're opposite polarity.
Otherwise, why would there be two of them?