In article ,
(Doug Miller) wrote:

Not if it used to power a water heater like he said. He's probably looking at
black-white-bare and thinking he's seeing hot-neutral-ground, when in fact
it's really hot-hot-ground on a 220V circuit.

Which is why you're supposed to wrap some red tape around the white wire
in the boxes at both ends, to indicate that it's a hot conductor.