Recalling vika's contribution of the old Russian proverb about selling the bear's skin before the bear is killed; this etymology from Dave Wilton's Wordorigins site:

http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorb.htm#Bulls and

Wow, that certainly was right on the mark, Faldage. Further down the page was a listing that made me think of our past discussion of debunk:
Bunk
"Bunk" is short for "bunkum," which in turn is an alteration of "Buncombe", the name of a county in North Carolina. In the year 1820, the "Missouri Question," whether Missouri should be admitted to the Union as a slave or a free state, was being hotly debated in Congress. Near the end of the debate and amidst calls from the floor to have a vote, Felix Walker, the representative from Buncombe rose to speak. Walker launched into what Safire describes as a "long, dull, irrelevant speech." When asked by other members to desist, he replied that he was bound to "make a speech for Buncombe," and continued to speak. This is how the word meaning something that is silly and irrelevant was born.