Old wiring not black and white. Does it matter which pole they hook up to on single switch light switch?

ksgentleman70: Not really. The switch is exactly that

Not really. The switch is exactly that: A break in the flow of electricity. It flows in (and out...A/C stuff) through the switch, up through the light, and back along the wire going back to the breaker box. For example, I cut one of the wires (we won't say which color they are). in the line. That makes a break in the line. Put the switch in on that line you cut in two and you have a way to connect/disconnect that line...controlling the flow of electricity.

Snezzy

The switch is supposed to be in the "hot" wire. In standard US wiring that is the black wire. If the colors are weird, you have non-standard or non-US wiring. Sometimes the switch is located on a single (B&W) cable where connecting the black and white wires together completes the circuit. In that circumstance the white wire is supposed to be indicated as "possibly hot" by a change of color, such as by wrapping colored tape around it, but that step is often omitted in home wiring. It might help to know where you are and when you think the building was constructed, wired, or re-wired.

marty

No it doesn't matter

STEVEN F

Actually, a single pole switch interrupts the 'hot' side of the circuit and BOTH wires would be black in a properly color coded scheme. Polarity is literally meaningless for such switches.