Don't you mean if they're ground down?

{Runs for cover.....} [Linked Image]

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it doesnt seem any different than randomly connecting a 240-volt load with no consideration to polarity.

Not that this would affect your specific case, but thinking about it some more, it seems that in the past such a random connection would not have been to code. From the 1971 NEC:

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210-5(c) Ungrounded conductor. {.....} All ungrounded conductors of the same color shall be connected to the same ungrounded feeder conductor and the conductors for systems of different voltages shall be different colors.

So presumably at that time, if you had black and red on the incoming feeder to the panel, you would then be required to match up your blacks and reds correspondingly on 240V branch circuits.

There seems to be no equivalent stipulation in the '02 NEC. In fact I can't even see anything which suggests matching colors on 3-phase anymore. Does that mean that however confusing it might be, it would now be to code to use black/red/blue for A/B/C at one point and then switch to blue/black/red or some other order elsewhere? [Linked Image]