120213-1042 EST
T.M.:
If we consider a generic scope where we directly connect to the deflection plates, then since these are insulated from each other we can apply any voltages that we want up to breakdown voltage or deflection sensitivity limits.
If we consider a typical scope with single ended inputs for each channel (no isolation and no differential amplifiers at the input), then both channels have an electrically common terminal for one side of the input, and this also connects to the AC power EGC. In slang terms this is called ground whether or not the scope EGC is floated. Thus, one can not put one input ground lead on neutral, and the other ground terminal on a hot wire. Big sparks.
The two of you were not on the same page in your discussion. This last sentence is all slang and may not be fully understood by an Indian, a Scotchman, and me. While I have English, German, Welsh, Norwegian, Swedish, French, and American Indian ancestry in my background I am not native to any of these. I just discovered the French part by looking into a US census of Indians in the early 1800s. I am just a US great lakes person. So the details of my language are different than yours. This whole thread is basically a definition or language problem.
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