Boy, I thought my puter was gonna catch fire there for a minute!
GWZ,
Splitting hairs with "conductor" vs. "conductors" would be the only loophole out of that one... I think the intent of the NEC would/should be clear, however.
Personally, I wish I could be partially responsible for practically one big black vertical line on the entire '05 code. Just too much subjectivity with the current verbage.
-Virgil Residential/Commercial Inspector 5 Star Inspections Member IAEI