When I was playing a video game a few months ago, I noticed that some of the characters (mostly young teen females, in case it matters) kept saying ～すぎ instead of ～すぎる.
For example, when one of the characters was being kind of rude, another character said to them:
言いすぎ！ (You're saying too much!)
I think I heard the exact same line from a young adult male in an anime too.
Why was すぎ used instead of just すぎる? When would it be better to use one or the other?
Answer
Note how this use of the noun form of a verb by itself is similar to, for instance, owari! (Finished; ended).
アルゴリズム体操終わり！
(The end of the algorithm exercise!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-EDlYSua54 1:06
You could make the -i word a complete sentence like for instance this with -ni narimasu, which is very humble and polite:
終わりに成りました
owari ni narimashita
Lit: something has reached the ending state. (Something has ended.)
In the case of 言い過ぎ, since this is abrupt, what is being elided/understood is the coupla だ which would make it a complete sentence:
言い過ぎだ！
Lit: It is saying too much. (That is an exaggeration or overstatement!)
Or with more verbiage, adding the topic "sore wa":
それは言い過ぎだ！
References for 言い過ぎ: http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/thsrs/10848/m0u/
So the reason why 言い過ぎ was used rather than 言い過ぎる is because the character wants to say to the other that whatever the other said just now was an exaggeration, rather than to say "you are exaggerating".
Similarly, if the character wanted to say "That is a lie!", he or she might say "uso!" which is a noun by itself or "uso da!". ("usoooooo..." would be more like "no way!" which is different from "You are lying!") To call someone a liar: "uso tsuki!" This is another noun, where a full sentence might be, e.g. "omae ga uso tsuki da yo!".
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