What exactly is reversed in reversed polarity
1) are the hot and nuetral wired forwards/
2) are the ground and nuetral wireed backwards?

Reversed Polarity means that the hot and neutral wires are hooked to the wrong screw.
That is, the hot wire is hooked onto where the neutral wire should be; the neutral wire is hooked onto where the hot wire should be.

If you look at an outlet, there is a pair of silver screws on one side and gold screws on the other.
The neutral (white) wire goes to the silver screw, and the hot (black) wire goes to the gold screw.

Here is a good web page.

I hope this helps,
WallyH