Meaning
Grown-ups; adults, and especially one's elders. The phrase carries the traditional Jamaican rule that children stay in a child's place: 'big-people business' is adult matters that children must not listen to or comment on, and 'big-people conversation' is not for young ears. To respect 'big-people' is to defer to your elders.
Examples
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Pickney, dis a big-people business, gweh.
Child, this is grown-folks' business, go away.
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Yuh mus have manners fi big-people.
You must have manners for your elders.
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Nuh chat inna big-people conversation.
Don't butt into adult conversation.
Origin
A compound of 'big' (grown) + 'people'; encodes the tradition of children deferring to adults. See [[pickney]], [[old-time-people]].
How it’s used
Adults/elders; 'big-people business' = adult matters off-limits to children. See [[pickney]], [[old-time-people]].