Electricians: Chandelier went out but it's getting current

[wutamess]

Originally Posted by I'mAlwaysRight

The white *should* be the hot (feed) at the switch, the black *should* be the switch leg back to the fixture. You won't blow anything up, but you'll get a small arc that might startle you. All this does is bypass the switch to eliminate that as a possible problem. I asked about the wiring because it could have been fed from the switch (two romexes) with the neutral tied together in the switch box, but it doesn't look like that's the case. If bypassing the switch and it still doesn't light, the yeah, you've probably lost the neutral (grounded conductor).

So the neutral is the ground wire? the one that's tucked back inside the Romex?