As Tex said, they use non-polarized plugs in most of Europe, and even in countries like France where grounding-type plugs ARE polarized, there's still not much concern over which way hot & neutral are wired to a receptacle.
These days in this part of the world, everything from toasters to electric drills to computer printers are sold in basically the same model right across Europe, so they're designed so that polarity is unimportant. A lot of power tools are now fitted with a double-pole switch as well.
I think you'll find some older radio/audio equipment made in the U.S. (perhaps 1960s or earlier) which had an ungrounded cord and used a high-value resistor (1 meg up) or a small capacitor direct from neutral to casing. Swapping H&N on one of those could result in some tingles, especially if the cap has gone leaky with age.
