In the USA Black is Live and White is Neutral, quite a lot of mains leads imported to the UK with moulded on 13 amp plugs have been found to have used USA standard cable.Never heard this one before - Black as live on an appliance flex?
Confused? - I am certainly, especially when BLACK = NEUTRAL is implanted in my mind for all these years.....
In some countries RED was the earth wire and it is not impossible to still find leads like that,
SO NEVER assume, always verify....